WINCHENDON, Mass. – Junior
Karianne Engelbert scored the game-winning goal with 2:02 remaining in overtime and senior
Maddie Leaney had a goal and an assist to become the program leader in career points as the Union College women's hockey team fought back to defeat Franklin Pierce University, 4-3 (OT), in the 2026-27 season-opener on Friday afternoon at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.
Engelbert started and ended the scoring on Friday, recording her fourth career multi-goal game and matching Leaney with a program-record eight career game-winning goals. Leaney tied the game in the third period, which was her second point of the game and moved her past
Stephanie Bourque '26 for first place on the school's all-time points list with 71.
First-year
Evie Hanson scored her first collegiate goal as well for Union (1-0-0), while classmates
Lily Oster (two assists),
Madi Gaines (one assist) and
Lily Leckelt (one assist) all picked up their first collegiate points on the afternoon.
After Franklin Pierce (0-1-0) started the day with a bulk of the possession, Union settled in and began to generate quality scoring opportunities. The visitors broke through with 9:05 left in the opening period, when Engelbert took a nice pass from behind the net by junior
Jill Willis and picked the top corner. Leckelt held the puck in the zone and cycled down low to Willis to pick up her first collegiate point on the tally.
The Ravens evened things up less than four minutes later, when Mia Kraut came down the left side on a two-on-one and beat senior
Monja Wagner for the score. After the slow start, the Garnet Chargers went into the first intermission with 10 shots to Franklin Pierce's 11.
The home team netted the first goal of the second period, thanks to a breakaway opportunity put away by Caleigh Murphy at the 6:35 mark.
Hanson evened the score just after the midway point of the second period with her first collegiate tally on the power play. The first-year took a pass along the blue line from Oster and whistled a wrist shot through traffic and into the net. In addition to Hanson's first collegiate point, it was Oster's first college point as well as the 70th in the decorated career of Leaney, tying her with Bourque for the program's points record.
Leaney assumed sole possession of the points record midway through the third period, getting Union again back to even on the player advantage. Less than a minute into the power play, Gaines threaded a beautiful cross-ice pass to a waiting Leaney at the back door for a one-timer to knot the game at three with 7:45 remaining. The visitors finished the day 2-for-3 with the player advantage.
The Garnet Chargers killed off a pair of penalties to get the game to overtime, including one minute of four-on-three disadvantage to start the extra session. At the end of the third minute of overtime, Engelbert forced a turnover at the defensive blue line and went in all alone against FPU goalie Rylee Eno, using the backhand to go under the pads and into the net to complete the comeback.
Union finished the game with a 40-24 edge in shots, including a 28-13 edge after the first period. Wagner made 21 saves to pick up the victory, with 10 of her stops coming in the first period as the Garnet Chargers withstood an early barrage by the Ravens. Eno made 36 saves at the other end for Franklin Pierce, who were limited to 1-for-5 on the power play.
The two teams will be back in action tomorrow beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Keene ICE in Keene, N.H.
