The Lindenwood Women's Hockey team (3-2-0, 0-1-0 AHA) fell in their conference opener on Saturday afternoon at Delaware by a score of 4-1. Elina Zilliox led the Lions with six shots, as Lindenwood finished with 34 shots on goal compared to 27 for the Blue Hens.
After a scoreless opening frame that featured Lindenwood killing off two Delaware power plays, the Lions opened the scoring at the 5:46 mark of the second period via the power play. The goal marked the Lions' first power-play goal of the season. Raquel McCormack won the faceoff in the offensive zone, and Silje Gundersen played the puck up the boards to Zilliox. Zilliox then sent a pass across the left side of the blue line to Thea Rustbakken, who fired a slap shot past the Delaware goaltender to put the Lions in front 1-0.
However, the Blue Hens responded with two goals, tying the game at the 8:50 mark before taking a 2-1 lead at the 10:15 mark of the second period and carried the one-goal advantage into the second intermission. The Blue Hens would add two empty-net goals in the third period to secure the 4-1 victory.
Lindenwood had a late power play opportunity with a chance to tie the game and generated two shots on goal from Michaela Paulinyova and Gundersen, but the Delaware goaltender stopped both attempts to keep the Lions off the scoreboard. Tiril Arntzen led Lindenwood with 12 faceoff wins, while Madison Bowtell made 23 saves.
Lindenwood will wrap up the series with the Blue Hens tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. CT.
