DEARBORN, Mich.-- The University of Michigan-Dearborn (1-0-0) women's ice hockey team needed 20 minutes to knock some rust off in their home opener against the Concordia (MI) Cardinals (0-1-0). The Cardinals took an early 2-0 lead after one period, but the Wolverines stormed back, scoring five unanswered goals to take their opener 5-2.
Trailing 2-0 entering the second period, the Wolverines turned up the heat, controlling the neutral zone and being strong on their forecheck. The Wolverines scored their first goal on a scrum in front of the net. Cadence Pero threw the puck to the point where Amy Palaian dumped it in front of the net. Newcomer Sydney Gillen intercepted the deflection from the goalie's pad and pushed it past the Cardinal netminder to bring the Wolverines within one.
After the Cardinals went down a player due to a slashing minor, the Wolverines seemingly had another unsuccessful power play. However, as the Cardinals dumped the puck in the defensive zone, the Wolverines caught CUAA in the middle of a change, and Zoe Zaifman sauced a pass to Kaylee Keledjian, waiting on the opposite blue line. Keledjian carried the puck into the offensive zone with Andi Evers on the opposite wing. The senior winger threw a puck on net, and again, the Cardinal netminder gave up a rebound to the stick of Evers, who buried the chance with 10 seconds remaining on the power play.
Tied going into the final stanza, the third period was all Wolverines, who scored three more goals without a response. Evers and Gillen added a second goal, and Samantha Sensoli capped out the victory with a power play goal from Madison Schroeder at the 14:37 mark.
