RJ Craig | January 16, 2024
Seniors Hannah Knight (17), Madison Jennings (12), Camille Jennings (33), and Morgan Alwardt (19) pose for a picture after Friday's game against Auburn.
On Friday night, the Georgia women’s hockey team rang in the new year by beating the Auburn Tigers 13-5, led by breakout performances from freshman Paige Oukes and captain Hannah Knight.
While it was an offensive pummeling by the Bulldogs, the Tigers capped off the scoring. Only eleven seconds into the game, Caroline Audette scored on a pass from Allison Forsythe for an early Auburn advantage. The Dawgs eventually responded about eight minutes later with an unassisted goal by Oukes, followed by a barrage of unassisted goals over the next three minutes, courtesy of Dana Stott, Oukes, and Knight for a 4-1 lead. Auburn brought the lead to within two less than a minute later with a goal from Forsythe, assisted by Meghan Albert. Georgia took a 5-2 lead heading into the second period.
The second period saw another quartet of Georgia goals. Less than two minutes in, junior Bailey Lesko got on the scoresheet, her first of the season, assisted by Knight and senior Camille Jennings. Two minutes later, Oukes recorded her third goal for a hat trick. Thirty seconds later, Knight potted her second goal of the night with graduate student Morgan Alwardt on the assist. Auburn finally tallied another goal at the 7:03 mark with a goal from Bridget Farrell on the feed from Natalie Hein-Ferris. Still, the Dawgs snapped right back on the power play when junior Katherine Davis fired in her first goal of the season, assisted by Stott. Once all the dust settled, Georgia had a comfortable 8-3 lead by the end of two periods.
The Georgia offense didn’t let up in the third period, scoring five more goals. Junior Hadden Peel recorded her first goal of the season on the feed from Davis, followed by four consecutive goals from Knight, Stott, Davis, and Oukes, the first three of which came on the power play. Auburn tacked on two goals by Hein-Ferris and Audette by the end of the period.
Players up and down Georgia’s roster filled the scoresheet with notable contributions from Oukes, Knight, and Stott. Oukes tallied four goals on the night to bring her season total to 21, the most in College Hockey South’s (CHS) Women’s Division, and her point total to 24, tied for most in said division. Knight finished with four points (3G, 1A) and Stott with three (1G, 2A). Davis, Peel, and Lesko scored their first goals of the season.
With the Dawgs' third win against Auburn this season, they achieved a record of 4-3, good for second in the CHS Women’s Division. They return to play later this month at the first-ever Athens Invitational Tournament, which will be at the Classic Center Foundry Pavilion. You can purchase tickets to the games here.
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