by Tyler Perhac ’20, Staff Writer

Despite falling behind midway through the first period, women’s ice hockey fought back to earn a tie Saturday evening against Chatham University Cougars.

The game was the Dutchmen’s first taste of conference action this season, which sets them at a 0-0-1 record in conference, and 0-2-1 overall.

Nearly 10 minutes into the first period at Pittsburgh Ice Arena, Chatham sophomore defenseman Ashley Marchant gave the Cougars the go-ahead goal, as the clock wound down on LVC sophomore forward Darby Seymour’s interference penalty. Both teams played a tight, scoreless game, until Dutchmen freshman forward Emma Simpson broke the ice with six minutes remaining.

Standing tall between the pipes was senior goaltender and team captain Jillian Moffatt, who turned aside 49 of Chatham’s 50 shots they threw on net.

Senior defenseman Taylor Borrelli’s lower-body injury side-lined her for opening weekend against Post University. Borrelli returned to the Dutchmen blue line on Saturday against Chatham.

“Playing our first conference game, we knew we had to come in full force,” Borrelli said. “I think we learned a lot from our first weekend of games, and brought that into this weekend, which gave us extra motivation to fight until the end and tie the game. We hope to keep the momentum going and win some games.”

Women’s ice hockey racked up three wins in a strong conference last year, an improvement upon last year. They hope to build on that and their comeback against Chatham and make a push towards playoffs this year.

The women return to action this Friday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m. in Reisterstown, MD, as they continue conference action against rival Stevenson University. They will head to Reading, PA on Saturday, to face off against Alvernia University for the first time. Alvernia enters its first year, joining LVC in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC).