O'FALLON, Ill. | McKendree Metro Rec Plex - Sixth-ranked McKendree University women's hockey began its 2024-25 campaign with a top-10 victory over Maryville, defeating the Saints 3-2 in full time on Friday night. The Bearcats fired two first period goals with senior forward Kiley Hasenfratz and sophomore forward Julia Koski each tallying one before senior forward Brittney Kambeitz fired a deciding, third period goal. McKendree earned a second-straight season opening victory over the Saints while they head across the metro to face Maryville once again on Saturday evening at 5:15PM at the Maryville Hockey Center in Chesterfield. 

The first few possessions saw the Bearcats take hold of the contest on their home ice as just over a minute into the game, senior forward Kiley Hasenfratz fired an unassisted goal. The Bearcats held the 1-0 advantage until the 14th minute when the sophomore forward Julia Koski scored to give McKendree a 2-0 lead. Koski's goal was assisted on by senior forward Larisa Gorgevska-Sharpe and junior forward Janaya Laqua. 

Sixth-ranked McKendree and Maryville battled throughout the second period, finding null scoring with the squads combining for 20 shots on goal. 

In the third period, the Saints put up a goal to cut the lead to just one for the Bearcats, 2-1. In the 10th minute of the final period, McKendree pushed during a penalty kill opportunity, capturing a goal with senior forward Brittney Kambeitz getting the dish-out from sophomore forward Brooklynne Painter. The Bearcats lead 3-1 following Kambeitz's goal. 

Maryville put up one more score but the Bearcat defense held strong to close out the game, 3-2.

Junior goaltender Rachel Staresinic collected 24 saves in the game with her win in net.

Scoring
P1 | #96 Kiley Hasenfratz (1), unassisted
P1 | #40 Julia Koski (1) via #7 Larisa Gorgevska-Sharpe (1), #14 Janaya Laqua (1)
P3 | #11 Brittney Kambeitz (1) via #16 Brooklynne Painter (1)