Tomorrow, the women's team opens their new year with a two game series against the tenth ranked Robert Morris Colonials. This is certainly a tough test for the Saints, but also a good test. SLU was playing pretty solid going into the holiday hiatus, and they'll look to come out strong against a very competitive RMU team.
RMU scores almost 3 goals per game, and attempts 30 shots per game, so its quite obvious that if the Saints are going to take any wins out of this weekend, Carmen MacDonald will have to be on top of her game. Its crucial to stop RMU's dynamic goal scorers Brittany Howard and Rebecca Vint, who have 12 and 9 goals respectively.
Just as important as MacDonald's play will be that of her defense. As I mentioned in my midseason awards in regards to the most underrated player, Kirsten Padalis, shot blocking is important in good defensive schemes, and it will be more crucial this weekend. If Padalis, who has 32 blocks, and Dayle Wilkinson, who has 31, as well as other players, continue to block shots, it makes MacDonald's workload lighter, which is important.
The Saints haven't really had an issue scoring goals of late, as rookies Brooke Webster and Alex Moore have been scoring enough, and Rylee Smith is always a threat as she approaches 50 career goals. Abbey McRae, Kayla Raniwsky, and Jessica Hon have provided secondary scoring, and Wilkinson and Mel Desrochers continue to have excellent offensive campaigns from the blue line. RMU's biggest weakness may be the amount of penalties they take, almost 5 per game. Their penalty kill is strong, and generally teams get a boost from killing penalties. If the Saints get power plays, they'll need to get some goals.
Clearly, the key is strong defense against RMU, and if the Saints can limit the shots for RMU, and prevent too much play in their own zone, they should be able to turn the play in the other direction and score enough goals to get some wins. Of course, that's always easier said than done.
Puck drops 7:00 PM on Saturday and 3:00 PM Sunday.
RMU scores almost 3 goals per game, and attempts 30 shots per game, so its quite obvious that if the Saints are going to take any wins out of this weekend, Carmen MacDonald will have to be on top of her game. Its crucial to stop RMU's dynamic goal scorers Brittany Howard and Rebecca Vint, who have 12 and 9 goals respectively.
Just as important as MacDonald's play will be that of her defense. As I mentioned in my midseason awards in regards to the most underrated player, Kirsten Padalis, shot blocking is important in good defensive schemes, and it will be more crucial this weekend. If Padalis, who has 32 blocks, and Dayle Wilkinson, who has 31, as well as other players, continue to block shots, it makes MacDonald's workload lighter, which is important.
The Saints haven't really had an issue scoring goals of late, as rookies Brooke Webster and Alex Moore have been scoring enough, and Rylee Smith is always a threat as she approaches 50 career goals. Abbey McRae, Kayla Raniwsky, and Jessica Hon have provided secondary scoring, and Wilkinson and Mel Desrochers continue to have excellent offensive campaigns from the blue line. RMU's biggest weakness may be the amount of penalties they take, almost 5 per game. Their penalty kill is strong, and generally teams get a boost from killing penalties. If the Saints get power plays, they'll need to get some goals.
Clearly, the key is strong defense against RMU, and if the Saints can limit the shots for RMU, and prevent too much play in their own zone, they should be able to turn the play in the other direction and score enough goals to get some wins. Of course, that's always easier said than done.
Puck drops 7:00 PM on Saturday and 3:00 PM Sunday.
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