HAMBURG, N.Y. – Coming off an 8-1 win to open the 2025-2026 season, the Keene State College women's ice hockey team was held scoreless for the opening 47:31 of action and Ellie Patrick's lone goal gave the Owls' their first shutout in program history coming against Hilbert College on Saturday afternoon.

Records

• Keene State: 2-0
• Hilbert: 0-2

How it Happened

The Owls' attack was applying the pressure early on, but Hilbert's goaltender, Brook Thompson, saved nine shots over the opening 6:13 of action. Three minutes later, the Owls had their first power play opportunity of the day, but they were unable to capitalize as Thompson made three saves during the span. The Owls attack continued heavily over the next two minutes with six more shots on target, but Thompson continued to hold strong. The rest of the opening period Thompson made four more saves, but Ai Chung, KSC's goaltender, made three saves of her own to bring her first period total to five saves as the game went into the second tied at 0-0.
 
Both teams had a slowed start to the second period as in the first 10 minutes Thompson made six more saves while Chung made another pair of saves. Over the next two minutes each tender made a pair of saves and the Owls killed off their first penalty of the day over the following two minutes with Thompson and Chung making two more saves each. In the closing six minutes of the period, Thompson made 11 more saves in net as she held the contest scoreless heading into the second.
 
2:20 into the final period, KSC had their second opportunity at the power play on the day, but Thompson once again held strong as she made three saves over the two minutes to kill off the advantage for KSC. After Ava Iantosca won a faceoff for the Owls, 29 seconds after at the 7:31 mark in the period, Ellie Patrick finally broke the scoring for the Owls as her shot hit off Thompson's stick side blocker and over her shoulder into the net as KSC took the 1-0 lead.
 
"It was nice to finally hit the back of the net after their goalie had really kept them in it, said Patrick, a sophomore alternate captain for the Owls from Belfast, Northern Ireland. "We stuck with our game plan and our plays and never stopped pushing until we produced."
 
On the goal, Emma McNeil and Mallory Stuart also picked up assists for each of their first points on the season. KSC tried to capitalize on their third power play opportunity a few minutes later, but Thompson bounced back with six saves to deny the insurance goal for KSC. As the game began to come to a close the Owls continued to search for that extra goal but were unable to find it. With 28 seconds remaining the Hawks had a power play opportunity and a 6-on-4 advantage but Iantosca's faceoff win for KSC iced the game as the Owls came back home with the 1-0 victory to start the season 2-0.
 
"We stuck with the game plan, had to make a few adjustments to try create some better looks," said Owls' head coach Rob Morgan. "Their goalie played outstanding, and their team defense made it difficult for us to create numbers off the rush. It was a great team win; Ellie's goal definitely gave us that added boost to dig in. I am very happy to see Ai pitch our programs first shutout and get the weekend sweep! Overall great team bonding road series with some amazing memories made along the way."
 
Patrick also mentioned the experience the team has had together to kick off the team's second season, "Opening the season on the road was a great bonding experience for our team. We had a good Halloween skate to continue our traditions and spent a lot of time together off ice."
 
Looking ahead, the team kicks off their inaugural LEC season on Friday on the road against Plymouth State University on November 7, at 6:00 PM. "The team is super excited to play our first LEC game next week especially against our rivals Plymouth," said Patrick. "We took a lot of things away from this weekend good and bad and are ready to continue getting better each day."
 
Inside the Crease

• Chung made 14 saves in net for the Owls for the second game in a row as she posts the program's first shutout in goal.
• Patrick added to her two assists in yesterday's win with her first goal of the season for the game-winner.
• KSC went 28-for-47 (60%) on faceoffs, with Iantosca going 13-for-18 (72.2%), Patrick going 7-for-12 (58.3%) and Abby Pomajba going 5-for-7 (71.4%)
• The Owls had the shot advantage as they outshot the Hawks 64-14.

 
Up Next
 
Keene State returns to the ice next Friday on November 7, at 6:00 PM at Plymouth State University as the Owls kick off LEC play.
Hilbert returns to action for a pair of games at Utica College starting on Friday, November 14, at 4:00 PM.