Warriors fall to fourth after sweep

By Tom Balog / WSU Beat Writer

If the seeding for the CHA Tournament ends up looking poor for Wayne State, the Warriors can look back to this weekend as a reason why.

The Warriors (8-13-3, 4-6-0 CHA) went into the weekend tied for second place with Syracuse and Niagara, but after being shutout on Friday by the Orange and giving up a two-goal third period lead on Saturday, Wayne State now sits all alone in fourth place with six games remaining.

The on again, off again offense was off on Friday as the Warriors dropped a 2-0 decision to the Orange on Doc Andrews Scholarship Night.

Megan Skelly scored 17 seconds in the second period and super rookie Isabel Menard added an empty-net goal as Syracuse ended a four-game slide.

Lucy Schoedel stopped all 27 for SU, including all five power-play attempts by the Warriors.

Delayne Brian started her fifth straight game for WSU and turned aside 28 of 30 shots.

Wayne was dominating and in control on Saturday afternoon before surrendering three, third period goals and a 3-2 victory to Syracuse.

Freshman blueliner Jenaya Townsend scored her first collegiate marker at 19:45 of the first period to open the scoring.

Alyssa Baldin added her sixth of the campaign at 9:24 of the second and with a 28-8 shooting edge after two periods, WSU looked primed for a victory and series split.

The Orange had other ideas though and overwhelmed the Warriors with a 17-4 shooting advantage in the third.

Julie Rising got her team on the board at 4:29 to make it a 2-1 game and then at 15:04 Swiss Olympian Stephanie Marty tied up the score.

Rising broke the back of the Warriors with her second of the game at 19:17 to steal the sweep for the Orange.

Lucy Schoedel came up huge for Syracuse stopping 30 shots for her 15th win of the year.

Brian fell to 5-7-2 after steering away 22 shots.

Niagara pulled the surprise of the weekend in women’s hockey upsetting No. 1 Mercyhurst, 2-1, in Erie, Pa.

The win vaulted the Purple Eagles into third place in the CHA and sets up a monster two-game set against the Warriors at the City Sports Center in two weeks.