Worcester, MA- Coming off the end of a eight day stretch of tight competition, the Blue and Gold (7-7, 5-1) will take on conference foe Anna Maria Women's Ice Hockey Saturday night. Anna Maria, coming off a pivotal conference win versus Plymouth State in shootouts earlier this week, is looking to put the Lancers on notice, but with a tough slate of challenges this week Worcester is set to meet the challenge.

Final:

Worcester State: 3

Anna Maria: 4

How It Happened:

In a 9-7 shot first period, the Worcester State Lancers had a back and forth defensive battle with the Anna Maria AMCATs. Worcester worked their offensive chances during their three power play opportunities but it was Anna Maria who managed to capitalize on their lone power play chance just nine minutes in, to take a 1-0 lead. The defense was steep on each side, preventing another goal in the first 20.

Worcester would tie the game up just over seven minutes into the second off a graduate student Sydney Vautour (Hamilton, MA) goal as the Lancers finally found the power play scoring magic. First year Emily Johns (Clinton, MA) and sophomore Caroline Melanson (Wakefield, MA) would add assists to their season totals on the goal. 

At just a few minutes past the same mark as in the first and again off a power play, the AMCATs would record their second goal of the game to take a 2-1 lead with under seven to play. Each team again had their offensive chances and power play opportunities to add to their tallies but the back of the nets stayed quiet.

Anna Maria found some solid pathways in the third period, recording goal number three just five minutes into the final 20. Before Worcester could reset their defense the AMCATs would grab number four to take a 4-1 lead over the Lancers. While the Lancers would settle in to their defense after goal four they were unable to re-establish the offensive drive needed to conquer Anna Maria until just over five minute left on the clock when first year Avery Ireland (Longmeadow, MA) would knock in goal off a dish from Johns only to be followed up 10 seconds later with a Johns goal with Vautour responding the early favor with an assist of her own to set the game at 4-3. Worcester would look to force overtime with under three to go pulling first year goalie Maverick Margraf (Chaska, MN) who recorded a 17 save performance on the night. The Lancers would put the pressure high on Anna Maria, but their defense met the challenge holding off Worcester's attempt to claim the conference win.

What's Next:

Worcester State (7-8, 5-2) will have nearly a week off before they return to home ice on January 24th to take on the Curry Colonels for a 7:10pm puck drop.