Women’s hockey split its series at the Rochester Insitute of Technology this past weekend in nonconference play, allowing the Tigers to bring home the first win before coming back from behind to edge out the Tigers in game two overtime. Both contests were settled by single point margins 2-1.
In the first game, RIT (4-5) notched both goals off power plays on the Bears (1-1). The Tigers went two for four in scoring off power plays, while Bruno went zero for two. Kaitlyn Keon ’15 scored Brown’s lone goal 41 seconds into the second period. Bruno was strong on defense but saw itself outshot 34 to 19 — and only two of those 34 shots made the difference for RIT. RIT’s Celeste Brown scored both shots —one at the end of the first period and the other at the very beginning of the third period — to give the Tigers a hard-fought win.
Goalie and co-captain Aubree Moore ’14 played well, blocking 10 unanswered shots in the second period for a total of 17 saves in that period alone.
“Our goalie had an outstanding weekend,” said Head Coach Amy Bourbeau. Bruno’s defense had to adapt very quickly to RIT’s offense.
“Brown’s defense needed to be in position at all times and focus on defending the passing and shooting lanes,” Bourbeau said. She highlighted the team’s need to record more shots on goal and to be more aggressive offensively as the game’s main issue.
Coming in Saturday for game two, Bruno faced a different goalie — this time a freshman — and tweaked its play to respond to RIT’s solid defense and hard-hitting offense. “On our end, we focused more on zone entries and trying to get our team to move the puck quicker,” Bourbeau said.
Again, RIT overwhelmed Brown with shots on goal, shooting 55 compared to Bruno’s 19. But Moore’s unyielding goalkeeping allowed only one of those shots to hit the back of the net. The Tigers were up by a goal until Jessica Hoyle ’14 scored the game changer with only 2:40 left in regulation time. As play went into overtime, Bruno was quickly offered a power play opportunity with only 2:56 into play. Capitalizing on the chance, Jennifer Nedow ’14 shot out of the faceoff, allowing Maddie Woo ’17 to deflect the puck into the net for the deciding goal — her first collegiate score.
Despite RIT’s unrelenting offensive pressure, “our team never quit in either game, we worked extremely hard,” Bourbeau said. Looking forward, Bourbeau said that the team needs to focus on quicker decision making but will remain “tough to play against.”
Their next matchup is a conference night game Nov. 1 at Clarkson University (6-2-1).
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