Murphy, Carpenter, Knight give Torrent first-ever win

Seattle Torrent fans couldn’t have asked for a more exciting finish to the team’s first-ever victory last night at Climate Pledge Arena.

The Torrent scored twice in 22 seconds within the last two minutes to post a 2-1 victory over the New York Sirens. The win improves the Torrent record to 1-1-0-1 on the season.

Seattle alternate captain Alex Carpenter scored the tying marker at 18:36 and Hilary Knight, Torrent captain and former US Olympic captain, notched the game winner at 18:58. Hannah Murphy, playing her first pro game was a standout between the pipes. The former Colgate standout, stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn the victory.

 “It was an awesome experience,’’ said Murphy, who faced another former Colgate goalie, New York’s Kayla Osborne, who had 16 saves. ``The Seattle fanbase was unbelievable and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I had chills. To cap it off with the win was awesome.”

Murphy had a busy second period as the Kingston, Ontario native had 12 saves. After some of her tougher stops, many of the 8,622 fans in attendance would chant her name, ``Murphy. Murphy.’’

When asked if that was the first time an arena chanted her name, Murphy’s eyes lit up. ``I would have to say yes. That was a first.’’

The goat of the game (and not goat as in `greatest of all time’) was the Sirens’ Kristyna Kaltounkova. The Czech Republic native, who was the number-one overall pick in the last PWHL draft, pushed Torrent defender Anna Milgren into the boards with 3:59 remaining. After a brief discussion the officials called a major penalty on Kaltounkova, who also played for Colgate – which seemed to be a theme in this game.

Kaltounkova received five minutes in penalty time and the Siren didn’t get the player back, regardless of a Torrent score. Carpenter would score the first home Torrent goal on what was in actuality a two-player advantage as a Sirin defender had lost her stick. Julia Gossling scored the first-ever Torrent goal in their season opener in Vancouver.

``I was trying to catch my breath,’’ said Carpenter, who was on the ice for much of the game’s final four minutes. ``It was a relief to finally get (a goal). We expect to get a lot of goals and that got the ball rolling. And we got another within a couple of seconds.’’

Knight scored her first goal on what Kraken TV announcer John Forsland would call, `hack and whack time.’ In a scramble in front of the net, Knight appeared to hit the puck three times, the final one when it was in the back of Osborne’s skate, before putting it in the net.

Murphy surrendered an early first period goal when Siren defenseman Jincy Roese brought the puck down the left wing, circled behind the net, and hit teammate Paetyn Levin in the slot where she cashed in the goal.

 Murphy, who with the 17th overall pick in the 2nd round of the 2025 PWHL entry draft, was flawless for the remainder of the game, including a busy second period when she stopped 12 shots

Murphy had a 1.86 goals against average (GAA)and a .939 save percentage in 34 games for Colgate in 2024-25. She had a 73-16-1 record with a 1.59 GAA and .937 SV% with 18 shutouts in her college career from 2021 to 2025.

“We’re still finding who we are,’’ said Torrent coach Steve O’Rourke. ``You start to see a glimpse when three out of five of us are on the same page, and we’re all right. When you get four of us on the same page, we start to look good, and when five of us are on the same page, we’re going to be really tough to play against.’’

The Torrent are now idle for two weeks as their next game won’t be until Dec. 17 when they host the Ottawa Charge.

Scoring Summary

First Period

NY-Paetyn Levin (Jincy Roese, Lauren Bernard) 3:15.

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

S- Alex Carpenter1 (Hilary Knight 2, Hannah Bilka 1) PPG,18:36.

S- Knight 1 (Bilka 2, Julia Gossling 1) PPG, 18:58.

Saves- NY- Kayla Osborne 18 of 20. S- Hannah Murphy 23 of 24.