Vetter Leads Team USA to Victory
November 07, 2007 | Women's Hockey
Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) turned aside all 24 shots she faced to lead the U.S. Women's Select Team to a 4-0 blanking of Sweden at the 2007 Women's Four Nations Cup here tonight at Ejendals Arena.
Team USA got off to an early 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back, adding another pair of tallies in the final frame for the 4-0 victory.
"We played with a lot of energy, battled hard and competed," said Jackie Barto, head coach for Team USA. "We wanted to set the tone for the tournament and I think we managed the game fairly well and got everyone some experience - it was exactly what we needed in the first game."
In the first period, Karen Thatcher (Douglas, Mass.) put Team USA on the board first when her low shot from the mid-slot beat Swedish netminder Kim Martin just inside the left post at 12:32. The United States then took a 2-0 advantage during a 4-on-4 situation at the end of the frame. Scoring her first U.S. goal, Erica McKenzie (Hastings, Minn.) took a hard-angled shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle that hit the the crossbar and dropped into the net at 19:50.
Neither team scored in the middle stanza, as the United States maintained its 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) put Team USA on top, 3-0, during a power play in the third period. A shot by Caitlin Cahow (Branford, Conn.) hit a Swedish defenseman's stick and bounced to Parsons at the left post. Parsons tapped the puck into the open net at 12:17. Meghan Fardelmann (Lansing, Kan.) closed out the scoring with her first U.S. goal at 15:38 to account for the 4-0 final score.
The U.S. Women's Select Team returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it takes on Canada at Ejendals Arena in the second game of the tournament for both teams. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. CST). Live stats can be found at www.usahockey.com.
