After a rough weekend, the women's hockey team is asking the tough questions. Brown suffered a 4-2 loss to Robert Morris University at Meehan Auditorium on Friday, then lost 5-2 to Providence College to give back the Mayor's Cup in the cross-city rivalry a day later, dropping the team to 1-8-1.
"I challenge the players ... to figure out whether they want to be players or competitors," said Head Coach Digit Murphy. "Losing these two non-conference games to teams that, if you look at them from top to bottom, are probably weaker than a lot of teams in our conference, told me that we were just players this weekend and not competitors."
On Friday, Brown jumped out to a 1-0 first period lead against Robert Morris on the strength of a 14-4 advantage in shots. Erica Kromm '11 scored her first career goal at 17:47 on a five-on-three power play when she lifted a shot from the right point through a forest of players and past RMU goaltender Brianne McLaughlin. Co-captain Rylee Olewinski '08 and Sasha Van Muyen '10 notched assists on the goal.
But the Colonials roared back for three goals in under five minutes in the middle of the second period, aided by two penalties on the Bears. All three goals came on shots deflected past Brown goalie Nicole Stock '09.
Brown faced a daunting 3-1 deficit with 8:26 remaining in the period, but Olewinski cut the deficit to one 4:43 later on another five-on-three power play. Hayley Moore '08 and Samantha Stortini '11 picked up assists.
"When you score on a power play, it gives you momentum," Olewinski said. "Everyone gets excited. Our power play has been struggling, so to get two goals like that on a power play, we thought it would be the drive they need to push on through and finish the game and come out with a win. But (giving up) three goals in under five minutes hurts and it's hard to come back from that."
Robert Morris scored the final goal at 14:54 of the third period, six seconds after Brown had killed off a penalty, to finish the scoring. Stock made 22 saves, but McLaughlin, her RMU counterpart, finished with 24.
Against PC, Brown played a poor first period and faced deficits of 22-7 in shots and 2-0 on the scoreboard heading into the second session. The Friars took advantage of three power plays to fire a barrage of pucks on goal and notch goals at 6:39 and 12:31. The Bears knew things had to change after intermission.
"We came in the locker room and we had upperclassmen step up and say how important that game was to us and how badly we needed to come out with a win," Olewinski said. "The attitude in the locker room was changing. People knew that the effort had to increase if we were going to come out there at least scoring some goals, let alone win the game. We knew we had to pick it up."
Brown only committed two penalties and held PC's power play scoreless the rest of the way, but it wasn't enough. The Friars added to their lead only 1:52 into the second period, but Brown struck back less than 10 minutes later when Nicole Brown '10 knocked home a rebound after a shot by Maggie Suprey '11. Erin Connors '10 also earned an assist. However, PC added another goal at 13:02 gave Brown a 4-1 deficit going into the third period.
Brown capitalized on a power play that carried over from the second period when Jenny Cedorchuk '10 scored the first goal of her career on a blast from the point to the top corner of the net just 21 seconds after intermission. Moore picked up the assist for her 108th career point to move into a three-way tie for 14th all-time at Brown. The team hoped the goal would lead to a shift in momentum, but it was not to be. PC bore down the rest of the way and added the final goal with 55 seconds left. Stock made 43 saves in a losing effort, but the Mayor's Cup that Brown won the previous year returned to Providence College.
"I'm a senior and I know my class especially wanted to hold onto the cup since we won it last year," Olewinski said. "It's a crosstown rivalry. It's a game that we usually get really psyched up for and want to win."
Murphy agreed.
"It was disappointing to lose those bragging rights," she said.
Murphy said the Bears are struggling right now to play complete games.
"I see them improve in some things and then we kind of take a step back in others," she said. "I see our power play getting a little better, but then our penalty kill isn't as strong. Or I see the line combinations getting better, but our defensive zone coverage is lax. It's a little bit frustrating right now for us because we can't seem to pull it all together."
But the players hope to change that.
"We had a players' only meeting last night and just pulled our team together and figured out what we needed to do," Olewinski said.
"We're expecting some big changes for next week, both on and off the ice. Everyone's attitude and mentality about the rest of the season is going to change."
It has to change quickly because the Bears face a stiff test this weekend. Brown hosts ECAC Hockey opponents No. 3 St. Lawrence University on Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 10 Clarkson University on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Meehan Auditorium.
"Hopefully we're sick of losing," Murphy said.
"I think that with two very strong conference opponents coming in, it's going to be an uphill battle, but they can prove their mettle by upsetting one or both of the conference teams this weekend."
