Chatham Snaps 97-Game Winless Streak

The Chatham Cougars ended yet another lengthy streak of futility against Oswego State Sunday with a 4-3 victory. April Govednik recorded a goal and two assists as the Cougars ended a 97-game winless streak. Chatham had not won a game since joining the ECAC West in 2002.

The Cougars looked poised to take advantage of inexperienced goaltender Emi Williams from the start. Williams was starting for just the second time in her freshman season and making her third appearance overall. She allowed four goals on 12 shots before being pulled in the opening minute of the second period in favor of Hillary Hitchman.

"(Williams) made some nice stops," said second-year head coach Diane Dillon. "But when something like that happens you gotta shake the team up somehow. It was changing the goalie in this case."

The Lakers responded positively to the change. Hitchman stopped all 13 shots she faced, allowing her club to close the gap on a 4-1 Chatham lead. Defenseman Kendall Hanley displayed nifty stick-handling as she scored her first goal as a Laker midway through the third period to cut the Cougar lead to two. Hanley moved the puck up the right wing before angling in towards the slot, moving the puck to her backhand, and lighting the lamp.

Minutes later, Gillian Toneguzzo scored her first collegiate marker to make it a one-goal game with 3:03 left to play. Dillon would pull her net-minder in favor of an extra attacker with just over a minute to play. The Lakers got several cracks at the net, but were unable to capitalize despite keeping the puck in Chatham's end until the final seconds.

"I'm gonna have about 75 more gray hairs tomorrow and I almost wanted to vomit," said first-year Cougar coach Phoebe Manchester. "It's that feeling of either this is gonna happen again, or we're gonna do it. We got the bounces."

Chatham had earned a tie last season against the Lakers to end a streak of 73 consecutive losses. Overall, Oswego State still leads the all-time series 6-1-1. Sunday's loss may prove detrimental to the Lakers' playoff hopes, a win would have tied them with Buffalo State for the sixth and final playoff spot in the ECAC West. Now the Lakers are tied with Chatham for eighth in the conference with each team at two points.

"Hopefully this will be a little bit of a catalyst for us," said Dillon. "This was a real kick in the pants. This is a wake up call for us to work harder. We've got a little over a month left in the season and it's all-out from here on out."

The Lakers return to the ice Jan. 27 when they visit Castleton State. They'll finish the season with eight straight conference games starting Feb. 2 at Cortland.

Ryan Maloney

NOTES:

• Coach Dillon said second-leading scorer Staphanie Esposito missed the Chatham series due to a knee injury suffered in Minnesota. The club hopes to have her back soon.
• The Lakers returned to the ice to skate with the fans following the game.
• This was the second time in as many nights that a lenghty ECAC West streak had been snapped. Top-ranked Plattsburgh lost to RIT on Saturday marking the end of a 39-game unbeaten streak in conference play. It was also the first time the Cards lost a conference game at home since their inaugural season in 2001-02 (43 games).
• WNYO broadcast the game live and you can hear it in the archives in the box at the top right-hand corner of the site.