Women’s Ice Hockey Again Battles Back, Again Edged at Sacred Heart, 4-3

SHELTON, Conn. (November 18, 2017) – For the second straight night, the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team erased a three-goal third period deficit at Sports Center of Connecticut, on Saturday. For the second straight night, the Ravens suffered a one-goal defeat at the hands of host Sacred Heart. This time, sophomore defenseman Jayne Lewis provided the game-winner, with 38 seconds to play in regulation, as the Pioneers skated away with a 4-3 victory. Senior forward Alex Brolsma (Bloomington, Minn.) scored twice for Franklin Pierce, including the 100^th point of her career.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 3-6-0, while Sacred Heart improves to 7-3-0 and completes the weekend sweep. The two teams will round out their four-game season series with a pair of contests at Franklin Pierce on Feb. 2-3.

After the first period went scoreless on Saturday, Sacred Heart struck for a pair of goals in the second period to jump to a 2-0 lead. At 5:32, on the power play, freshman defenseman Marissa Letizio put home her third goal of the year from the point, off of assists from senior forward Taylor Moreland and sophomore defenseman Jayne Lewis. Later, at the 11:04 mark, sophomore defenseman Olivia Bryant struck from the point as well, this time at even strength. Her third goal of the season was assisted by sophomore forward Maddie Bishop.

The Pioneers made it a three-goal game just 66 seconds into the third period. Moreland had the finish on her team-leading 10^th goal of the campaign, while Lewis and Bryant provided the helpers at 1:06.

Franklin Pierce began its third-period comeback at the 6:42 mark. It was the first collegiate goal for freshman defenseman Kara Santoro (Wolcott, Conn.), who picked up an assist from sophomore defenseman Delaney Guimont (Bedford, N.H.).

Brolsma made it a 3-2 game with her first of the night at 8:15, less than two minutes later. She finished her team-leading fifth goal of the season from right in front of the net, while sophomore forward Meg Gilbride (Braintree, Mass.) provided the lone assist.

The goal was the 100^th point of Brolsma's career (37-63-100), and she became the third player in Franklin Pierce history to reach 100 points, joining Karsyn Baker '16 and Marisa Ketterman '17. Brolsma is already the school's all-time leader in assists -- a mark she set on Friday night -- and finished Saturday 20 points behind Baker for the school scoring record.

Brolsma struck again at 11:02 to tie the game at 3-3. Gilbride had an assist again, while freshman forward Haley Parker (Londonderry, N.H.) contributed a helper as well.

The game would remain tied until the final minute of regulation, when Sacred Heart found the game-winning goal at the 19:22 mark, on the power play. Moreland found a cutting Lewis at the back door for the latter's eighth goal of the year. Junior forward Katie Stueve provided an assist on the game-winner as well.

Making her first collegiate start, sophomore goaltender Jessica Strack (Reading, Mass.) made 19 saves against 23 shots on goal and suffered the loss (0-1-0) in net for Franklin Pierce. At the other end of the ice, junior netminder Sarah Erban (4-2-0) stopped 22 of 25 shots to pick up the win for Sacred Heart.

The Ravens return to the ice on Tuesday, Nov. 22, when they travel to Castleton. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. at Spartan Arena in Rutland, Vt.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).