Huskies Close Regular Season at Franklin Pierce on Saturday (7:00 p.m.)

            GORHAM, Maine -- Senior Kelsey Lynch (Collegeville, Penn.) scored two goals and rookie goalie Emelie Lindqvist (Gullerasen, Sweden) stopped 26 shots as the visiting Plymouth State University Panthers shut out the University of Southern Maine Huskies 3-0 in a New England Hockey Conference game at the USM Ice Arena Friday afternoon.

            The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Panthers and clinched a spot in the upcoming NEHC postseason tournament.  The Panthers, who play at Nichols College on Saturday (4:40 p.m.), are now 9-15-0 overall and 5-11-0 in the league.  The Huskies dropped their fourth straight game to slide to 3-19-2 overall and 2-11-2 in NEHC action.  The Huskies will close the regular season tomorrow night (7:00 p.m.) traveling to Franklin Pierce University.

            Lynch scored her eight and ninth goals of the season 2:57 apart in the first period to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.  Freshman Kelsey Roy (Ft. Collins, Colo.) forced a turnover in the Huskies' defensive zone to set up Lynch's first goal at 13:57.  Less than three minutes later, Roy and classmate Brooke Maggy (Alhambra, Calif.) created another turnover deep in the USM end, and Lynch was in the right place to take advantage with a high shot over the shoulder of USM sophomore goalie Courtney Davis (Woburn, Mass.).

            Southern Maine cranked up its offense in the second period putting 11 shots on Lindqvist, but the rookie netminder turned every shot aside to protect the two-goal margin.

            The Huskies had a golden opportunity in the third period winding up with a 5-on-3 power play for 1:35, but Lindqvist and the Panther defense killed off the penalties.

            Maggy put the game out of reach with 1:42 to play as she fired a shot over Davis' right shoulder for an unassisted marker.  The score was Maggy's fourth of the season.

            The shutout was the third of the season for Lindqvist.  Davis stopped 24 shots at the other end for the Huskies as the Panthers finished with a slim 27-26 edge in shots on goal.

            Prior to the start of the game, the Huskies honored their four seniors playing their last home game: goalie Nia Kelly (Santa Barbara, Calif.), defensemen Chelsea Boucher (Gilford, N.H.) and Kaleigh Heath (Jericho, Vt.) and center Cassandra Sherman (North Smithfield, R.I.). 

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