Corinne Schroeder did not allow a goal in her second straight game and Jessie Eldridge scored the game-winning goal with a minute left in overtime as the New York Sirens beat the Toronto Sceptres 1-0 on Sunday.
Schroeder blanked Minnesota, making 26 saves in New York’s 5-0 win over the Minnesota Frost on Jan. 4. Sunday, she denied Toronto with 28 saves. She won her fifth game overall and her second in overtime.
Schroeder lowered her league-leading goals-against average to 1.86 per game. Just two goalkeepers, Schroeder and Maddie Rooney of league-leading Minnesota (1.98), average fewer than two goals allowed per game this season.
After neither team scored in regulation, the game went to a five-minute three-on-three overtime and each team had chances. New York sent out Alex Carpenter and Sarah Fillier, who have scored nine goals between them, and the pair had a pair of chances but could not beat Toronto keeper Kristen Campbell. The Sceptres’ Sarah Nurse pounced on a long rebound and had a breakaway chance at Schroeder but her shot whistled wide as did an open shot from Daryl Watts.
After Schroeder denied two Toronto chances in the fourth minute of overtime Fillier collected the puck in her own corner and fired a long cross-ice pass. Eldridge followed the puck into the corner and lifted a close-in shot over Campbell’s right shoulder while straddling the goal line.
The win was the second in overtime for New York (3-2-1-3), which beat Minnesota in extra time and lost to the Frost in a shootout. Toronto (2-0-2-5) lost its only other overtime game to Montreal.
