After receiving their first-ever vote in the USCHO/CSTV rankings, the Colgate Raiders are on a roll.
Continuing the momentum from their 2-1 win over then-No. 8 Providence on Sunday, the Raiders (2-1-0) came to the Northford Ice Pavilion on Friday night and beat Quinnipiac (1-3-0) by 3-0 score. Colgate goalkeeper Rebecca Lahar recorded an 18-save shutout for the Raiders and got all the offense she needed from Colgate’s top line of Amanda Barre, Allison Paiano and Becky Irvine.
“They’re as good as a lot of people’s lines,” Colgate coach Scott Wiley said of his top trio, “and if they come to play, they’re as good as anybody.
“Rebecca Lahar, in my mind, is one of the top couple of goalies in the country. I don’t think she has gotten enough credit based on the past. Going into the Under-22 program has been a huge thing, but when she’s focused, and she’s on her game, she’s as good as anybody.”
“She’s a great goalie,” Quinnipiac coach Michael Barrett said of Lahar. “We’ve competed with Colgate in every game the last few years and not found a way to beat them, and she’s been a big part of that. We didn’t test her early enough. I think she’s the type of goalie who gets more confident as the game goes on.
“We did get better in the game tonight, and certainly played with a lot more emotion, but we’ve talked about getting the pucks to the net, because ugly goals count as much as pretty ones, and you’re not going to get pretty ones off of a goalie like her anyway.”
There weren’t any goals off of anyone – pretty or otherwise – in the first period, but that changed early in the second period, courtesy of Barre’s team-best third goal of the season. The hero with both goals in last week’s upset of Providence, she took the puck in shorthanded, and went farside on Bobcat keeper Janelle Wolitski.
Shortly thereafter, the Bobcats had a 5-on-3 opportunity, but the Raiders were able to kill off the penalties with several blocked shots and a few key saves from Lahar. The Raiders took advantage of a Quinnipiac penalty shortly thereafter, as a scramble in front of the net left the puck on Paiano’s stick. The junior from Orleans, Ont. put the puck right into the net for a 2-0 advantage, which the Raiders would take into the locker room at the second intermission.
The lead became 3-0 early in the third, as an errant Quinnipiac pass near the blue line turned into a 2-on-1 for Barre and Irvine. Barre drew the Bobcat defender’s attention and found Irvine, who put the puck between Wolitski’s legs to put the game out of the Bobcats’ reach. From there, it was all Lahar, who closed the books on Colgate’s second straight win, and her first shutout of the season.
“I’ve been trying to focus on not letting in any soft goals,” Lahar said. “I hold myself to very high standards, so it feels pretty good [to get a shutout].”
Colgate will head back to Hamilton for the rest of the weekend, but will hit the road next weekend for a pair of games at Wayne State. Quinnipiac, meanwhile, will face Boston College tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Northford.
Elliot Olshanksky is an assistant editor of CollegeSports.com.
