FLASH POINTS

• Emily Wickenheiser (Mechanicsburg, Pa/Cumberland Valley) scored 4 goals against Occidental and three more against Redlands
• SFU scored eight fourth quarter goals across the two matches
• The Red Flash improve to 7-9 with the victories

 
 
CLAREMONT, CA- The Red Flash wrapped up their Spring Break trip and the Claremont Convergence with a 10-8 win over Occidental and a come-from-behind 8-6 win over Redlands to sweep the Saturday matches.
 
 
OCCIDENTAL MATCH (Box Score)
 
The Red Flash broke an 8-8 tie in the fourth quarter with two late goals to snap a five-game losing streak. Emily Wickenheiser (Mechanicsburg, Pa/Cumberland Valley) scored her third and fourth goals of the match in the final frame to help lead the Red Flash to the victory.
 
Kelly Fehr (Erie, Pa/Villa Maria Academy) answered an early Tiger goal by finishing off a Tina Bonilla pass to tie the match at one. Thirty seconds later, the Tigers re-took the lead on a Carly Zurcher goal. The Red Flash looked to counter but Anna de Groot made a pair of big saves to keep the Flash at bay. Erin O'Neill (Landsdale, Pa/North Penn) then drew a penalty exclusion that was cashed in by Lani Merrill (San Clemente, Calif. /San Clemente (Saddleback College)) to tie the match late in the quarter. But the Tigers had a late answer as Occidental scored with two seconds left on the clock and gave Oxy a 3-2 lead after one quarter.
 
Occidental would take a two-goal lead two minutes into the second before Wickenheiser scored a power-play goal to cut the lead to 4-3. The Flash couldn't capitalize on another power play minutes later and Oxy used the momentum from the penalty kill to score and re-take a two-goal lead. The Tigers would make it 6-3 after an SFU turnover, forcing a Red Flash timeout. Wickenheiser's second of the game made it 6-4 and Melani Aghazarian (Glendale, Calif./Glendale (La Valley College)) and Tina Bonilla each nearly made it 6-5 seconds later but hit the post. SFU would trail 6-4 at the half.
 
SFU rang a third post at the start of the third before Kelsey Gring (Sinking Spring, Pa/Wilson) scored on the power play to bring the Flash within one. Thirty seconds later, Lani Merrill (San Clemente, Calif. /San Clemente (Saddleback College)) tied the match at six with her second goal of the game. Both teams failed to score on power plays over the next two minutes before Oxy re-took the lead with 90 seconds left in the quarter. Gring would answer the Tigers' tally with one of her own, scoring with just 11 seconds left in the quarter to send the match to the fourth tied at seven.
 
The teams would trade goals thirty seconds apart two minutes into the quarter. It was then the Tigers turn to fire one off the post and the Red Flash took advantage. Wickenheiser netted her hat trick with four minutes left in the game to give SFU the lead for good. The freshman would add an insurance goal with two minutes left, but the Red Flash defense didn't allow a shot after taking the lead in the fourth.
 
Saint Francis outshot Oxy 26-18 and scored on 2 of 10 power plays and their lone penalty shot. The victory is the second for SFU over the Tigers this week.
 
REDLANDS MATCH (Box Score)
The Red Flash wrapped up the Claremont Convergence taking on the Redlands Bulldogs. The Red Flash scored five fourth quarter goals to defeat the Bulldogs 8-6 to sweep the Saturday matches. Emily Wickenheiser (Mechanicsburg, Pa/Cumberland Valley) backed up her four goal after noon with another three goals in the nightcap and Fehr and Gring each scored twice to pace the offense.
 
Kate Wilke (Burbank, Calif./Burroughs) made an early save to get this started for the Red Flash, who took a 1-0 lead three minutes into the match on a Kelsey Gring (Sinking Spring, Pa/Wilson) goal. The lead didn't last long as an Amber Rogers (Souderton, Pa/Souderton) exclusion led to a power play goal for Redlands. Fehr quickly gave the Red Flash back the lead, scoring just 30 seconds after the equalizer and Aimee Baur (North Wales, Pa/North Penn) nearly made it two goals in under a minute when she hit the post. The Bulldogs again took advantage of the power play, scoring a late tally with the man advantage to tie the match at two after one quarter.
 
The teams went over four minutes into the second with no scoring before Redland took their first lead of the match on an even strength goal. The Bulldogs made it 4-2 a minute later, forcing an SFU timeout. Wickenheiser was stopped on a shot coming out of the timeout and Redlands went on the attack, a pair of Wilke saves kept it 4-2 Bulldogs at the half.
 
Redlands stretched their lead out to three, scoring on an early power-play goal. Wickenheiser then rang one off the post to keep it a 5-2 game before Kelsey Gring (Sinking Spring, Pa/Wilson) would score on the power-play to make it 5-3 30 seconds later. The goalies would take over from there with Wilke making two more saves and getting help from the post on a third. It would be 5-3 Redlands heading into the fourth.
 
After winning the opening sprint, Wickenheiser scored for the Red Flash to make it a one-goal game just 20 seconds into the fourth. The SFU defense then blocked down a Redlands' shot and on the counter-attack Aimee Baur (North Wales, Pa/North Penn) collected a rebound and found Wickenheiser for the equalizer to tie the match at five. The Flash would take their first lead of the second half one minute later as Kelly Fehr (Erie, Pa/Villa Maria Academy) scored to make it 6-5. The Red Flash then got a pair of exclusions drawn on the Bulldogs and capitalized on the second, making it four unanswered goals as Wickenheiser struck again to make it 7-5. Lani Merrill (San Clemente, Calif. /San Clemente (Saddleback College)) added insurance with 2:30 to go, making it five unanswered by the Flash. Redlands would score with under a minute left but it proved too little too late.
 
Each team had 19 shots with Kate Wilke (Burbank, Calif./Burroughs)'s seven saves proving to be the difference for the Red Flash. Saint Francis runs their record to 7-9 on the season as they head back east for next weekend's George Washington mini. The host Colonials are up first on Friday, opening sprint is set for 6 p.m.