It was a tough weekend for the women’s hockey team, letting a late lead slip away against Union Friday night before falling to Rensselaer the following day.
“These were close games this weekend that we were capable of winning,” said goaltender Monica Elvin ’17. “We can go into this coming weekend ready to have more to show for our effort.”
It certainly looked like Bruno (5-21-1, 2-17-1 ECAC) was going to come away with a win against the Dutchwomen (4-21-7, 1-15-4), but after allowing two goals in the last seven minutes, it had to settle for the tie.
After quickly falling behind in Friday night’s contest, the Bears showed some resilience early in the game when Sam Donovan ’18 netted a goal with under five minutes left in the first period to knot the score at one. It was the 10th goal on the season for Donovan, whose performance demonstrated that she will likely be a key member of the team in years to come.
In the second period, Bruno dominated play, outshooting Union 9-2. The team’s strong play resulted in a second goal, this time from Janice Young ’15 on a power play just three minutes into the period.
Katie Swanstrom ’18 got the third period off to a great start, quickly putting the puck in the back of the net to give the Bears a 3-1 lead. It seemed Bruno was well on its way to win at this point, but the defense could not quite hold on in the game’s final minutes. The Dutchwomen connected on goals with seven and five minutes left, sending the game to overtime when the final horn blew.
The Bears looked to be the better team in the extra period, but none of their six shots translated to a goal, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.
The next contest did not bring better luck for Bruno, as it lost a 3-2 nailbiter to RPI (6-22-4, 4-15-1). The Bears dug themselves into an early 2-0 hole midway though the second period. But shortly after allowing the second score, Sarah Robson ’15 tallied an end-to-end goal to bring the score within one.
Despite keeping the game close, the Bears conceded a third goal six-and-a-half minutes into the last period and could not muster up quite enough play to tie the game. Donovan gave her team a chance by netting her 11th goal of the year with under three minutes to play, but the Engineers’ defense proved to be strong in the closing seconds.
Elvin, who had an impressive 27 saves in the game, expressed high praise for her teammates’ efforts over the weekend.
“Sam Donovan really showed up big for us this weekend with a few points,” she said. “Sarah Robson was also on a tear, scoring a momentum-changing goal Saturday.”
The Bears now prepare to take on Princeton (14-11-2, 12-7-1) and No. 5 Quinnipiac (23-6-3, 14-4-2) this weekend, as they close out their regular season at home.
Though any hopes of the postseason have been dashed, Elvin said there is still a lot to play for.
“We are simply playing for each other, especially for those seniors who will be competing next to us for the last time,” she said. “We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs as a team this year, and I think one take-away of it all is that we know we can come together and rally.”
