Staff
Thirty shots, three goalposts, no luck.
A storybook season for the Rainy River Community College Voyageurs women’s hockey team came to a painful end Saturday in a 1-0 loss to the West Chester University of Pennsylvania Golden Rams in the semi-finals of the ACHA Division II national championship in York, Pa.
With no bronze-medal game, the Voyageurs and Michigan State Spartans finished the tournament tied for the third.
The Rams proved to be no match for RRCC’s chief rival, the North Dakota State University Bison, who finished undefeated after dumping West Chester 8-1 in yesterday’s gold-medal game.
RRCC—featuring the former Muskie “Fantastic Four” of forwards Katie Sinclair, Hailey Clendenning, Shelby Tymkin, and Shilo Beck—outshot West Chester 30-12, including 12-2 in the third.
They also clanged three more chances off the iron surrounding Rams’ goalie Presley Fiorilli.
But Fiorilli was outstanding in recording the 30-save shutout while Emelia Bebee netted the game’s only goal at 17:07 of the first on the power play with Clendenning off for hooking.
RRCC went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
On Friday, the second-seeded Voyageurs blanked the top-ranked California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans 4-0 to win Pool ‘A’ with a 3-0 record.
RRCC outshot the Vulcans 36-9.
Sinclair set up Tymkin for the only goal of the first against Vulcans’ goalie Maria Sciacca, then scored herself (with an assist from Beck) in the second.
In the third, it was Beck’s turn to light the lamp, with Clendenning providing the helper before scoring herself at the final buzzer.
In related news, Tymkin was named an ACHA Division II First Team All-American on Saturday.
Sinclair earned a Second Team berth.
