ROCHESTER, NY – In a battle of the two top teams in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) standings, the Nazareth Women's Hockey team and Utica skated to a 2-2 tie through regulation play and a five-minute overtime period but the Golden Flyers used a goal by graduate student Abbey Luth to score a 1-0 shootout win to pickup an extra standings points and move Nazareth into a tie for first place with the Pioneers.

Nazareth (18-5-1 overall, 17-1-1 UCHC) scored twice in the second period to take a 2-0 lead but Utica (20-1-3, 17-0-2 UCHC) responded with two goals in a span of less than three minutes early in the third period to knot the game at 2-2.

In the second period, freshman Corsica Skibinski came out of the penalty box just in time to join a rush up the ice giving Nazareth a 2-on-1 situation. The freshman passed in front of the net to graduate student Nikolle VanStralen but her shot was saved. VanStralen picked up the rebound and passed back to Skibinski who scored to give Nazareth the 1-0 lead.

With three minutes left in the period, senior Ally Watrous scored with an assist from Luth to put the Golden Flyers up 2-0.

In the third period, Utica scored to trim the lead and scored again less than three minutes later on a power play to even the score.

The teams played a tight but scoreless remainder of the game and neither team was able to score in overtime as Utica goalie Angela Hawthorne made six saves to preserve the tie.

In the shootout, junior McKinley Hoff stopped the first attempt and Luth followed with a goal to give Nazareth the lead. Neither team scored in the second round and Hoff made another save in the third Utica attempt to seal the shootout win and the extra standings point.

The same two teams will meet at 3 p.m. Saturday to decide the regular season champion and top seed in the upcoming UCHC Tournament.