ÖSTERSUND, Sweden – Behind a four-point (3G, 1A) performance from forward Maggie Scannell (Wynanskill, N.Y.), the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team topped Finland, 8-1, in the second game of preliminary-round action at the 2023 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.
“I thought we played a pretty thorough game as it went on,” Katie Lachapelle (Lewiston, Maine), head coach of the 2023 U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team said. “I thought our first period was okay, the second period we got in to a lull, but the third period we answered back and were playing really well.”
The U.S. opened the scoring 2:56 into the game when Maggie Scannell (Wynantskill, N.Y.) roofed a rebound glove side right outside the crease to give the U.S. an early 1-0 lead. Despite the early tally, the game remained a tight back-and-forth contest through the first, with both teams getting shots on net.
Samantha Taber (Tewksbury, Mass.) doubled the U.S. lead with a little over five minutes left in the period, taking a Joy Dunne (O’Fallon, Mo.) outlet pass through the neutral zone and splitting Finland’s defense up the middle, before roofing a backhand shot over Suvi Saarninen’s shoulder to give Team USA the 2-0 lead.
Early in the second, Finland’s offensive pressure resulted in a goal when Neea Pelkonen snuck a close-range shot past U.S. netminder Layla Hemp (Chanhassen, Minn.) to cut the lead down to 2-1.
