NAPERVILLE, Ill.--The Lawrence Tech women's hockey team traveled to The Prairie State this weekend and picked up a pair of victories, 4-0 on Friday and 2-0 on Saturday, over host Aurora here at All Seasons Arena. The Blue Devils are now 4-2 on the season, while the Spartans played their first two contests as a new American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2 program.
The Blue Devils established a team record by posting shutouts in back-to-back games. Before Friday, LTU's only shutout occurred in last season's finale at RIT, 13-0. LTU--which is a second-year program that played eight games in 2022-23--also currently has a school-record three-game winning streak.
On Friday, goaltender
Rachel Hart earned her first shutout of the season and the second of her career by stopping all 30 shots she faced. Lawrence Tech got goals from
Theresa DiMaggio,
Sydney Lochow,
Sophia Buckberger and
Kathleen Fennessy. For Lochow and Fennessy, they scored their first career collegiate goals in a rink where they played their youth hockey while growing up in nearby Homer Glen.
After the teams played a scoreless first period, DiMaggio got the scoring underway with 12 minutes and 42 seconds left in the second on an assist from
Valeria Ortega. The Blue Devils put the game away in the third period when they scored three goals in a span of 69 seconds, beginning with 5:14 showing on the clock after Lochow's tally.
On Saturday, Hart notched her third career shutout after turning aside all 27 Aurora shots on goal. LTU had 33 shots on goal.
"We played really well defensively," LTU coach
Greg Moore stated. "Rachel stood tall when she had to and we played well as a whole group."
Buckberger and DiMaggio led LTU with two points. She assisted on DiMaggio's goal that proved to be the game-winner with 17 minutes to go in the second stanza. Buckberger added an insurance goal at the 9:52 mark of the final period on a feed from DiMaggio.
Lawrence Tech will be idle until the Pittsburgh Showcase on Friday through Sunday, Nov. 3-5, when it will square off against first-time opponents West Chester, Rowan and Navy at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in New Kensington, Pa.
