New York Sirens’ Rookies Power the Team to Home Opener Win
Courtesy of the PWHL
After opening the 2025-26 season on the road with games against the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire, the New York Sirens finally returned to New Jersey to host the Vancouver Goldeneyes in their home opener.
3,517 fans packed the Rock to welcome their favorite team back for a new season and each player was met with a loud uproar of cheers and applause during player introductions. After the anthems were sung, the puck dropped and the Sirens’ 2025-26 home opener was officially underway.
New York dominated early on, and their sustained offensive zone pressure paid off just over four minutes into the game as rookie defender Nicole Vallario netted her first PWHL goal to get the Sirens a 1-0 lead. It wasn’t until later in the first period that another goal was scored and it came from none other than Sarah Fillier. Before the puck even made it to Fillier, there was a beautiful set up in front of the net courtesy of rookies Casey O’Brien and Anne Cherkowski, who both picked up assists on Fillier’s goals, marking their first career PWHL points. The Sirens headed into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The Sirens maintained that same fast paced energy and just 55 seconds into the middle frame, Paetyn Levis scored her first goal of the season to extend the lead to 3-0. Levis later took a two-minute minor penalty for interference at 9:35, but New York went right to work on the penalty kill. When the Sirens attempted to clear the puck from the zone, Kristin O’Neill caught it at center ice and scored the Sirens’ second jailbreak shorthanded goal of the season to make it 4-0. Cherkowski picked up her second assist of the night of O’Neill’s tally, registering her first career multi-point game as well.
The Goldeneyes were looking to get on the board in some way, and they did early in the final 20 minutes. Sophie Jaques got a puck past Sirens goaltender Kayle Osborne, who had maintained a shutout up until that point. Michelle Karvinen and Hannah Miller picked up the assists on that goal. The momentum didn’t carry over for Vancouver though as New York continued to show off their skill and speed. On a night full of firsts for rookies, Kristyna Kaltounkova couldn’t be left out, and she made her mark as she scored her first PWHL goal at 8:55 in the third period. When the final buzzer sounded, the Sirens came away victorious with a 5-1 win.
Sirens Head Coach Greg Fargo recognized that his team was generating a lot of the offense in this game and pointed out that most of that was just putting pucks on net. “I thought we did a much better job tonight. In a lot of areas, but especially around their net. We haven't been around the net in a long time, but now we know enough that if you want to score, that's where you’ve got to go. I just think, in other words, those goals were just kind of creating some chaos in or around the blue paint tonight, I thought our players did a really nice job with that.”
“The fans were awesome. I think I have a lot of family, a lot of friends here, too, so it's always nice to play in front of them. You don't always get that opportunity, but it was cool to see it just when Nicole [Vallario] scored her first goal. How they [the fans] erupted, and they kept the energy the whole game. So that definitely has an impact on us.” O’Brien said about playing her first game at the Prudential Center.
The Sirens are back in action on Wednesday, December 3 for a matchup against the Seattle Torrent at Climate Pledge Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 10 PM EST.