EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – Despite a much-improved power-play and penalty-kill unit, the Long Island University women's ice hockey team suffered a 4-2 setback to first-place Saint Anselm College at Northwell Health Ice Center on Saturday, Jan. 11.
 
The Hawks jumped ahead early, capitalizing on a turnover in the defensive end in the second minute of play. The Sharks had an opportunity to even the score during a power play where they took seven shots in a row. Megan Bouveur had a shot that just barely missed finding the back of the net, hitting the pipe.
 
The Sharks opened up the second period defending a power play, and then were able to successfully kill off a 5-on-3, allowing just one shot during the extended man-advantage for St. Anselm. Despite the strong play by the penalty kill unit, the Hawks extended their lead at the midway point of the stanza on Katy Meehan's first goal of the day and pushed the lead to three goals with under four minutes remaining when Meehan found the back of the net once again.
 
The LIU power-play continued to show improvement throughout the day and was able to capitalize late in the second period when Matilda af Bjur potted a rebound on a shot through traffic by Renee Hoffmann with 1:07 to play, cutting the deficit to just two goals entering the second intermission.
 
Both squads battled to a scoreless opening nine minutes of the third period before Alva Johnsson intercepted a pass in the slot and promptly buried her seventh goal of the season with a wrist shot through the five-hole of Hawk goalie Michaela Kane, making it 3-2 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
 
The visitors put the game out of reach for good when Marissa Agerter collected a pass on the left side of the goal mouth and zipped a shot under the crossbar to give St. Anselm a two-goal lead that LIU could not overcome, carrying the 4-2 margin through the final horn.
 
LIU held a 52-50 edge in shot attempts and led St. Anselm 33-25 in shots on goal. The Sharks also held the lead in blocked shots, 19-8. Johnsson led LIU with 14 shot attempts, including nine on target while also leading the team with five blocked shots. Paula Bergström added six shots on goal, while Renee Hoffmann and Linn Thomsen tallied one assist each. Kenzie Harmison recorded 13 saves in the start in goal, while Mia McLeod picked up eight stops in relief.
 
The Blue and Gold return to the ice on Friday, Jan. 17 when LIU hosts Saint Michael's College in a NEWHA matchup at Ice Works beginning at 3:00 p.m.