Pitt (3-2) had control of the game from the very beginning in there 16-8 win over Canisuis (3-1), who they fell to 12-10 in the inaugural season last year. Pitt’s Maeve Murray scored six goals in the game, a program record.
It took all of 33 seconds for Pitt to score first and less than five minutes for them to take a three-goal lead. Murray scored first unassisted after Pitt won the opening draw.
It’d be a couple minutes before Pitt scored their second, from Madigan Lublin off the assist from Sydney Naylor, but followed that second goal up within a minute on an unassisted goal by Talia Zuco.
Murray scored her second goal of the first period a few minutes later before a yellow card on Naylor gave Canisius a man advantage, but they failed to capitalize and took a yellow card of their own to put things back at even strength. Pitt scored their fifth goal of the period during this stretch by Molly Carter and assisted by Emily Coughlin.
It was an incredible first period by Pitt as they outshot Canisius 8-5 and, more importantly, outscored them 5-0. Not to mention the successfully killed power play and goalie Hannah Van Middelem’s performance of five saves on five shots.
Murray had a hat trick to start the second period as Pitt took a 6-0 lead. Canisius though broke the shutout not long after on a goal by Skylar McArthur, but Pitt answered that with two goals by Jill Fenech in an approximately 30-second span and they led 8-1.
Canisuis though got momentum to end the first half and scored a pair of goals to trail 8-3 heading into halftime.
Coughlin and Carter scored in the first five minutes to start the second half and take a 10-3 lead. Murray then scored two more to give her five on the afternoon and a 12-3 lead. Canisuis though would score in the third quarter to prevent a potential mercy rule, but they trailed 12-4.
Skylar McArthur for Canisius scored a pair of following that fourth in the midst of a 3-1 run for Canisius and giving her a hat trick. Pitt took a 13-6 lead into the final quarter.
Pitt came out with their own 3-1 run to put the game into the mercy rule at 16-6 with a little over six minutes left. Pitt was never threatened in the game, as they won 16-8.
Murray led the game in scoring with six goals and Van Middelem had nine saves in the win. Fenech, Carter and Coughlin each had a pair of points as well with the former two scoring two goals each. In total, nine different Pitt Panthers scored one of their 12 goals.
Pitt will next travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals in their second ACC game of the year. Louisville is the only ACC team that Pitt has beaten in their young history, as Pitt beat them twice last year in both the regular season and ACC playoffs.
