UTICA, NY (February 14, 2020) --- The King's College women's ice hockey team gave another strong effort on Friday afternoon but the host Utica College Pioneers pulled away from the short-handed Monarchs with a big four-goal third period to clinch a spot in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) Tournament with a 8-0 victory.

The Pioneers (8-13-1, 8-4-1 UCHC) entered the weekend needing just one point to clinch the fourth and final North Division spot in the UCHC postseason tournament in a couple weeks. King's (2-19-1, 1-13-0 UCHC) was looking to avenge an 11-2 loss earlier this year at the Rev to UC.

The Monarchs came out strong holding the Pioneers offense at bay for the first seven minutes of the game. The hosts, however, were able to get on the board at the 13:12 mark of the period when Lexi Stanisewski directed a shot of a Monarch skate and into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season. King's didn't let the early lead deter them and kept up the defensive pressure on the Pioneers keeping the UC advantage at one heading into the first intermission.

Utica came out of the first break on a mission and scored just 41 seconds into the second frame to increase their lead to 2-0. The Monarchs stayed strong defensively, but Utica frustrated the Monarch offense from getting into a rhythm. The Pioneers scored twice more in the period to take a 4-0 lead with Kiva Sierra Stoltz stopping 12 of the 15 shots she saw in the period.

The Pioneers kept the pressure on the Monarchs in the third period and were rewarded with four goals all coming in the final 10 minutes of action. Georgiana Santullo and Stanisewski each finished the game with two goals scored while Carolyn Whitney and Olivia Herschy led the team with four points on one goal and three assists each. Bria Reilly made 12 saves to earn the shutout victory in goal.

Utica held a 41-12 shot advantage as Stoltz made 33 saves. The junior goaltender put together another excellent game after her 53 save performance on Tuesday with a few of Utica's goals coming off rebounded shots. Raeann Clancey led the Monarchs with three shots taken and three shots blocked. Josee Aitken also blocked three of King's 13 blocked shots and took two shots on the offensive end. Aitken also had a strong day in the faceoff circle winning 21 of her 37 attempts.

The Monarchs, who have struggled with penalties all year, played their second straight game with a low penalty number being called for just two. Utica was called for four penalties and were successful on all four penalty kills while scoring one power play goal on two opportunities.

King's will be right back in action tomorrow with another road game in upstate New York against Nazareth College. The Monarchs will take on the Golden Flyers from Bill Gray's Iceplex in Rochester starting at 1 pm.