Beauts complete comeback, split weekend with Riveters

by BEAUTS MEDIA

The Beauts hit the road for their first back-to-back series of the season last weekend, traveling to Newark to face off against the Metropolitan Riveters. Buffalo skated away with a split, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in their first game to earn a 4-3 win, but were unable to complete another comeback on Sunday afternoon.

After a scoreless first period, the Riveters scored three goals in rapid succession midway through the second frame. Kendall Cornine, Nora Maclaine, and Rebecca Russo all scored within 2:11 of each other, putting the Beauts in a deep hole that looked tough to dig out of.

But as they’ve made it clear even so early in the season, the Beauts team is a resilient bunch, and they went to work mounting a comeback.

Anjelica Diffendal started things off for the visitors, finishing off a beautiful passing play from Jenna Suokko and Emma Keenan late in the second to make it a two-goal game. After heading into the intermission down 3-1, Dominique Kremer roofed a beautiful backhander on a power play two minutes into the final period, letting out a huge roar in celebration.

Less than four minutes later, it was Diffendal who struck again to tie things up, this time off of an absolute beauty of a saucer pass sent over by co-captain Taylor Accursi. The score would stay knotted at three for the rest of the third before going to 3-on-3 overtime.

It was Cassidy Vinkle who ended things early in overtime, carrying the puck into the offensive zone and deking past a Riveters defender before slipping a puck past Riveters goalie Sonjia Shelly for her first PHF goal and the game-winner.

Diffendal, Kremer and Vinkle all scored their first professional goals in the win, a testament to the new infusion of talent the Beauts brought in this offseason that’s already paying off dividends.

Sunday’s game was another tough test; the Riveters got off to another fast start, with Russo and Madison Packer both scoring in the opening ten minutes to give Metropolitan a 2-0 lead. From there, it became a back-and-forth affair all afternoon.

Kremer netted her second goal of the weekend, charging to the front of the net and redirecting a pass past Brooke Wolejko to make it a one-goal game. The Riveters reclaimed their two-goal lead on a Madison Packer shorthanded goal with under a minute to go into the first, and the Beauts would go into the first intermission down two goals.

Emilie Harley scored her first Beauts goal a minute into the second period, picking up a rebound at the side of the net and sending it into a wide-open cage. The Beauts spent the rest of the second period trying to tie the game back up, but Theresa Knutson scored just over two minutes into the third period to give the Riveters yet another two-goal lead.

Goalie Carly Jackson, who was solid in both contests for the Beauts, went to the bench for an extra attacker late in the third, and Harley scored her second goal of the game to make it 4-3 with just over two minutes left. The Beauts just couldn’t complete the comeback this time around; Russo scored an empty-net goal to make it a final score of 5-3.

The Beauts are now 1-2-0 on the season, with three points in the standings. They will have the next two weekends off before traveling to Minnesota to face off against the Whitecaps on December 11-12.