HAMILTON – Colgate women's ice hockey sophomore goaltender Liz Auby (Stoughton, Wisconsin) extended her shutout streak to three games dating back to the 2016-17 with the Raiders 5-0 shutout of the St. Cloud State Huskies.
 
All three of Auby's shutouts have been against the Huskies. Her shutout streak of three games is tied for the longest in program history while her minutes streak of 200:36 is the second longest in program history behind Jen Burtaw's streak of 231:24 from the 1999-2000 season, before the program entered the Division I level.
 
Colgate's opening was also the first time the Raiders had back-to-back shutouts since shutting out Rensselaer and Union on Jan. 28 and 29 during the 2010-11 season.
 
The Raiders' offense was just as impressive Saturday afternoon as five different players scored goals while Megan Sullivan (Toronto, Ontario) and Annika Zalewski (New Hartford, New York) each picked up a pair of assists. Highlighting the scoring was Malia Schneider (Millarville, Alberta) who scored her first career goal and added an assist for her first multi-goal game.
 
Bailey Larson (Sycamore, Illinois) staked the Raiders out to 1-0 lead just over six-and-a-half minutes into the first period with her first tally of the season. Sullivan rushed in from the right wing and fired a shot that was saved by St. Cloud State goaltender Emma Polusny. The rebound shot off Polusny's pads right to Larson where she one-timed home the goal.
 
Besides Larson's goal, one of the biggest plays of the periods came when Auby stopped a point blank shot to preserve the lead for the Raiders.
 
The Raiders held on to their 1-0 lead until late in the second period when Shae Labbe (Calgary, Alberta) found the back of the net for the first time in 2017-18. Sullivan skated with the puck through the neutral zone before hitting Labbe with a pass. Labbe centered it back for Sullivan but the puck hit her skate and skidded past the goal. Labbe corralled the puck, circled the net and stuff home the puck.
 
After chipping away through the first two periods, the Raiders exploded for three goals in the final 20 minutes. Schneider got the scoring started just 37 seconds into the period. After winning the puck in a battle in the corner, Schneider dodged a St. Cloud State defender and before potting her first career goal.
 
Jessie Eldridge (Barrie, Ontario) extended the lead for the Raiders three minutes later to 4-0 Colgate. Lauren Wildfang (Waterdown, Ontario) dove to jar loose the puck that went right to Zalewski. Zalewski got open and slid the puck down the ice for Eldridge to chase down before scoring five-hole.
 
Livia Altmann (Arosa, Switzerland) capped off the scoring midway through the final period with a beauty from the point. Zalewski hit Altmann with a pass, and after dodging Schneider, who went for a change, snapped a wrister top shelf past Polusny to make it 5-0.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 5, St. Cloud State 0
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Raiders improve to 2-0-0 with their second straight shutout while the Huskies fall to 1-3-0 on the season.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Auby set the program's Division I shutout streak record with three and longest consecutive shutout minutes at 200:35, both dating back to the 2016-17 season.
-The Raiders recorded back-to-back shutouts to open a season for the first time in program history, and the Raiders back-to-back shutouts is its first since the 2010-11 season
-Five different Raiders scored a goal in the game for the first time since their 6-1 win at Dartmouth on Jan. 28
-Eldridge scored her second goal in as many games for the Raiders this season to give her 24 goals in her career.
-Larson hit a few personal milestones as she scored the 25^th goal of her career and 60^th point
-Schneider recorded her first career goal, assist and multi-point game with a two-point effort on Saturday
-Altmann found the back of the net for the first time this season with her tally.
-Zalewski tallied her first multi-point game of the season with a pair of assists
-Labbe buried the 26^th goal of her career as she closes in on 60 career points
-Sullivan continued her solid career with a pair of helpers to give her 31 in her career and maintain the active lead with 67 points
-Zafuto now has points in back-to-back games for the Raiders with an assist
-In total, five players have recorded points in both games this season
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate recorded 38 shots on goal for the second straight game, outshooting St. Cloud State 38-17 with an impressive 19-5 edge in the second period
-The Raiders scored their first power play goal of the season thanks to Larson, going 1 for 3 and were even stronger on the penalty kill going 5 for 5.
-Colgate also had a solid day at the faceoff dot, winning 25 faceoffs compared to St. Cloud State's 18 led by Zalewski's eight faceoff wins
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Greg Fargo
"We had a lot better game today. Today's game was actually a little more back and forth than it was yesterday, we knew St. Cloud was going to come out and fight back after yesterday's loss."
 
"I was really pleased with our response, it wasn't as clean yesterday but we managed to score first which is always important and it continued to build from there. Early in the second period we had to weather a bit of a storm. We did a nice job until we got our feet back under us and back to some of the things that have given us success."
 
"I thought [Liz] was great all week, we really just felt good with her back in the net. She was a calming influence. She came up with one big save in the first period, it looked like she was down and out and made a real desperate save on a point blank shot. That got our bench going and really started to turn the tide the other way."
 
Goaltender Liz Auby
"It was good, it's definitely good to start off on a good note. Overall, as a team, we played really good defense so it made it pretty easy on my end. I saw a lot of shots, and they cleared out rebounds right away so they didn't make it too tricky for me."
 
"The first game especially, I didn't get a lot of action so it was more of a mental battle than a physical one to always stay focused."
 
UP NEXT
The Raiders continue their six-game homestand next weekend when they host the nationally ranked No 8/8 Northeastern Huskies on Saturday at 6 p.m. followed by a game on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m.