CMU DII women’s hockey pours it on BGSU
With eight minutes remaining in the second period, Central Michigan Division II women’s club hockey freshman forward Kylie Del Re backpedaled to the left corner of the Bowling Green State zone with a defender nipping at her heels.
Looking to break free, Del Re quickly spun 180 degrees, losing the defender as she dangled the puck to open ice.
With only the goalie to beat, Del Re sent the puck past the Falcons goalie’s stick and into the net to secure her first collegiate hat-trick, as the Chippewas routed BGSU 6-1 on Friday in Martin Ice Arena.
"It was amazing,” said head coach Chris Haney. “I mean, three goals and two assists on the night, she was clearly the best player on the ice from both teams. Just a great all-around talent, it was good to see her excel there.”
CMU is now 3-0 on the year.
"Feels great," Haney said. "Everything's going in the right direction, really happy with how the ladies played and it was a good win."
After a checking penalty, the Chippewas found themselves shorthanded with 8:58 remaining in the first period. However, Del Re corralled a rebound off a shot from freshman defenseman Allison Haney and buried it in the back of the net to give CMU a 1-0 lead.
A few minutes later, Del Re took advantage of another rebound and fired it on the net to push the score to 2-0.
The Chippewas kept their foot on the gas as freshman forward Kaitlyn Williams sped past the BGSU defense and scored, pushing the lead to four. It was Williams' first goal of the season.
BGSU notched its first goal late in the third, but CMU kept the pressure on.
Freshman forward Zoie Sawdie added a goal, pushing her streak to three-consecutive games, while freshman forward Gabriella Nixon found the back of the net as time wound down in the third to push the Chippewa advantage to five.
Del Re led the Chippewas with five points (three goals and two assists). Sophomore goalie Lauren Abraham recorded her second win of the season while allowing one goal.
Although the result was favorable, Haney believes there is still work to be done.
"Playing with the lead, it’s hard sometimes to have that consistent effort,” Haney said. “That's something that we need to focus on a little bit and clean up. But overall, not bad.”
Del Re led the Chippewas with five points (three goals and two assists. Sophomore goalie Lauren Abraham got her second win of the season while allowing one goal.
CMU returns to action against BGSU on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
“Let's celebrate tonight's victory enjoy it,” Haney said. “But we got to flush that, come back tomorrow morning and it's 0-0 again. We can't take anything for granted at this level of college hockey, if you don't take your opponent seriously, you could lose. So we need to make sure that when we come back in the morning, we're refocused on the task at hand.”
