RJ Craig
To ring in the new year, the Lady Ice Dawgs traveled to Savannah, Ga. to take on the Georgia Southern Ice Eagles in their first-ever meeting at the Savannah Civic Center late Saturday afternoon.
In the first period, the Dawgs came out swinging.
Freshman forward Georgia Verheyden capped off the scoring for the Dawgs four minutes in, followed by unassisted goals from sophomore forward Paige Oukes and senior defenseman Hailey Hultberg, each three minutes apart to give the Dawgs an early 3-0 lead.
Oukes found the back of the net twice more, recording her fifth hat trick of the season to propel the Dawgs to a comfortable 5-0 lead after the first.
The second period saw more of the same domination the Dawgs displayed in the first. Verheyden’s second goal came within the first three minutes of the period, assisted by senior forward Katherine Davis and sophomore defenseman Dana Stott.
Oukes scored her fourth of the game at 8:46 to push the Dawgs’ advantage to 7-0 after two periods.
In the third, senior Bailey Lesko recorded her first goal of the season, followed by Oukes’ fifth goal.
With no push from the opposition, the Dawgs cruised their way to a 9-0 victory.
The Dawgs will travel back to Athens, Ga. tomorrow in a rematch against the Ice Eagles at their first-ever game at the brand new Akins Ford Arena for a 1:30 pm ET puck drop.