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UTICA — The U.S. women’s hockey team will extend its winning streak and defend its gold medal with a 5-0 victory over Finland in the semifinals Saturday at Adirondack Bank Center.
“I think it’s going to be a great game (Sunday),” said Lyla Edwards, who scored three goals to bring her total to five at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship. “…It doesn’t seem real. This is something I’ve always dreamed of.”
Team USA has played in every gold medal game since the first Women’s World Championship in 1990, and will play the winner of the second semifinal between Canada and the Czech Republic on Sunday at No. 23. Canada has played the United States 21 times. The opponent in 2019 was Finland.
The United States controlled the flow of the game from the start, but needed time to pull away on the scoreboard. The undefeated home team led 1-0 at the end of the first period, 2-0 at the end of the second period, and scored three points in the third period, but Hanna Birka scored 12:01 into the period. broke the scoreless tie and already had a 15-1 shot advantage. 1st period. Birka deflected a shot from linemate Abby Murphy and scored. Kayla Burns added an assist.
The shooting margin was 22-4 after the first period and 42-8 at the end of the second period.
Edwards scored his first goal at 13:14 of the second period. She skated in on the left side off a cross pass from Tessa Janecke.
Edwards added goals four minutes apart early in the third period, capped off by Savannah Harmon’s goal at 16:10. Like Birka, Harmon also scored his first goal of the tournament. They are the 13th and 14th players to score for the United States at this tournament. Edwards is currently tied for the tournament lead with teammate Alex Carpenter with five goals.
Taylor Heise and Kirsten Sims assisted on Edwards’ two third-period goals. Britta Karl and Joy Dunn assisted on Harmon’s goal.
Goaltender Aerin Frankl made 15 saves and the United States outscored Finland 55-15 for its fifth shutout in six games of the tournament. All three goals against the team were scored by Finland in a pool game on April 6, which the USA won 5-3.
Sanni Ahola made 50 saves for Finland.
The American team has already defeated either Canada or the Czech Republic in pool play.
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