The women's hockey team rebounded from a 5-1 loss to Cornell on Friday by pulling out a 3-3 tie against Colgate University on Saturday, despite being badly outshot and committing five more penalties than the Raiders. Opportunistic offense and 54 saves by Nicole Stock '09 kept the Bears in a game that could have been a blowout, but the team couldn't pick up a win over their Eastern College Athletic Conference opponent. The weekend's action at Meehan Auditorium dropped Brown's record to 3-14-4 (2-9-3 ECAC).
Head Coach Digit Murphy called the Cornell game "probably our worst performance all semester." It went downhill quickly. After the Bears failed to convert on an early 5-on-3 advantage, the Big Red took the lead 9:10 into the game on a power play when Brittany Forgues tipped a shot coming from the point through Stock's legs.
Cornell needed only 48 seconds after the second period commenced to get Brown on the ropes. Caeleigh Beerworth doubled the lead with a blast from the left side 29 seconds in. Nineteen seconds later, the Big Red lit the scoring lamp again, and the Bears never fully recovered.
"The first one was an unbelievable snipe," Murphy said. "Maybe Stock could have come out a little bit, but it was a great shot. ... (On) the second goal (of the period), we didn't pick up our assignments. When you don't pick up your assignments, you get scored on. They out-muscled us at the front of the net."
But the Bears did get one goal back that period. Cornell was whistled for a penalty at 6:02 and another 11 seconds later, giving Brown another long 5-on-3 advantage that resulted in Nicole Brown '10 scoring her third goal of the season. Samantha Stortini '11 started the play with a long pass up the right side to Erin Connors '10, who sent a pass across the crease that Brown tipped in.
But the Bears could draw no closer. They had no more power play opportunities and were outshot 18-7 in the third period.
"I thought we had a lot of intensity, but ... hockey is really a game of momentum, and every time we got the momentum we just couldn't finish it off," Murphy said. "This young team has to know that when they've got the pucks bouncing around the crease they've got to finish it, because 3-2 is a lot different than 3-1. And when it was 3-1 and they didn't convert, now you start second-guessing yourself."
The score remained 3-1 until late in the third period, when the Big Red added insult to injury for the Bears. Cornell scored with 2:39 remaining to put the game out of reach, and then tacked on a power-play goal with 1.6 seconds showing on the clock to produce the final score. Stock picked up 37 saves, while Katie Wilson stonewalled the Bears with 25 saves in her first collegiate start.
The lone positive of the night was that Stock broke Brown's single-season save record, set by Ali Brewer '00 in the 1999-2000 season. But even that feat wasn't enough to make up for the weekend's results.
"It's another great personal accomplishment, being able to be in the Brown record books, but we still need to get victories and that's ultimately what we want," Stock said. "For me it's nice, but we're not getting the job done enough."
Breaking the record so early in the season says a lot more than just how well Stock has been playing.
"It's kind of a tough record to be proud of," Murphy said. "I'm proud that she set the record, but at the same time it's a little bit insulting that other teams are getting that many shots on us."
Cornell's physical play did in the Bears, who needed to refocus to take on Colgate.
The Bears did just that against the Raiders, even after Colgate struck first, when Evan Minnick slipped a shot through Stock's legs on a power play at 6:13.
But Brown caught one of their luckiest breaks of the season when, 48 seconds into a power play, a Raider was whistled for two penalties on the same play with 2:12 remaining in the first period. Thirty-eight seconds later, Erica Kromm '11 rifled a shot from the point for her second goal of the year. Sasha Van Muyen '10 and Jenny Cedorchuk '10 assisted on the play.
With 39.6 seconds remaining, Brown took the lead when Hayley Moore '08 beat goalie Lisa Plenderleith with a shot through her legs. Rylee Olewinski '08 and Kromm picked up assists. But Brown's attempt to score on the third power-play segment was thwarted when Moore was penalized for interference seven seconds into the second period.
Brown was outshot 19-3 in the second period and 3-1 on its sole power play of the period, but still managed to hang on to the lead. Kath Surbey '10 added to the Bears' lead at 7:51 with her first career goal. Frances Male '09 recovered a loose puck deep in Brown's end and found Savannah Smith '09 on a breakaway with Surbey. Smith drew the defender before passing across the crease to Surbey for a one-timer shot.
"That was definitely a highlight reel [play] for Kath Surbey," Murphy said. "Savannah Smith made the play. She was patient and then she kind of saucered it over. It was nice to see Surbey finish because we're going to have to get some goal scoring from other people besides Hayley Moore and Rylee Olewinski if we're going to win some hockey games."
But Colgate took only 54 seconds to answer with a goal. The score remained 3-2 until 12:28 of the third period, when the Raiders took advantage of a power play to put home a rebound.
"We're taking too many penalties," Murphy said. "It's just that we can't take penalties and think that we're not going to get scored on. ... But you're kind of at a loss, because unfortunately it's your players that are on the ice a lot that are taking the penalties."
The game ended deadlocked after a five-minute overtime in which Stock made five saves while the Brown offense was shut out. The Bears trailed 57-21 in shots and took nine penalties to the Raiders' four, but Stock's 54 saves, including 20 during power plays, kept the Bears alive.
"When they scored the third one, it was tough knowing that they tied it 3-3, but you've got to keep playing," Stock said. "You can't let them get the fourth one and lose the game. That's not what you want. You want to build your team back up and try to go get that goal yourself."
Brown faces a stiff test this weekend against two of the top teams in the ECAC. On Friday, USCHO.com No. 2 Harvard comes to Meehan for a 4 p.m. game that was moved from Cambridge. Then the Bears travel to face No. 10 Dartmouth. Both teams beat Brown 2-0 earlier in the season, but Stock believes that the Bears have a chance.
"I think our biggest thing will be picking up sticks and challenging players to physically be better than us," she said. "We know that they're tough opponents and mentally we have to be ready. We're the underdog, but I think we can sneak by one of these teams."
