Emma-Sofie Nordström's twenty-one saves and Aly McLeod's three-point game powered the No. 10 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team to a 4-0 win over the Union Garnet Chargers on Friday night in Canton, N.Y.
 
Two early Union penalties gave the Saints an opportunity to grab the game's first goal, and the SLU power-play capitalized on the two-player advantage. Captain Julia Gosling passed back-and-forth with Mae Batherson in the high slot to set herself up for a one-timer that beat Union's goaltender Sophie Matsoukas five-hole.
 
St. Lawrence utilized the momentum from Gosling's goal to dominate the remainder of the first period, pinning the Garnet Chargers in the defensive zone. The Saints outshot Union 12-2 in the first, but could not beat Matsoukas again in the period.
 
The Saints' offensive onslaught continued early in the middle frame. Junior forward Abby Hustler gathered Anna Segedi's pass behind Matsoukas' net. She then made a beautiful pass to McLeod, who beat the Union goaltender short side.
 
Batherson would then extend the St. Lawrence lead to three just a couple minutes later. Segedi weaved through Union's defense and tapped a pass to Batherson, who sent a rocket of a slapshot top corner over Matsoukas' blocker.
 
While the Saints commanded a three-goal lead, Union did not go away quietly. The Garnet Chargers had multiple instances of sustained pressure, which St. Lawrence partially enabled with three penalties in 2:50. However, Nordström and the Saints' defense held strong to prevent Union from getting on the board.
 
After two periods of play, St. Lawrence maintained a three-goal lead and outshot Union 24-20.
 
McLeod put the finishing touches on her three-point night in the third period. She corralled a loose puck in the near offensive-zone corner and skated towards the net. She then hesitated to freeze Matsoukas and beat the Union goalie glove side.
 
With the Saints in full control of the game, graduate student Sirena Alvarez replaced Nordström in goal. The sophomore finished with 21 saves. Alvarez had five saves in her 6:42 of action, including on a great save on a Union breakaway to secure the 4-0 shutout victory.
 
"Emma was solid in periods 2/3 and she needed to be, as Union came at us and creating a flurry of shots. Finny [Sirena Alvarez] came in and made some great stops to complete the shutout!" said head coach Chris Wells.
 

 
St. Lawrence outshot 32-26 in shots-on-goal and 56-51 in attempts. Matsoukas finished with 28 saves in the loss.
 
"It was nice to get back in the win column tonight. We came out with some good pace and capitalized on our early power play," added Wells. "We scored some hard-working goals and could have had a handful of others as well."
 
The Scarlet and Brown improved to 14-8-0 overall and 8-3-0 in ECAC play with the win, while Union fell to 8-14-2 and 3-8-2.
 
"Three points is always big in our league, especially the second half. Another big game
tomorrow versus RPI, who we played a hard-fought game with two months ago," said Wells.
 
The Saints look for the weekend sweep tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. against the Engineers at Appleton Arena.