The players on the women's hockey team faced a crossroads Friday night. After suffering a 5-0 loss to No. 9 Clarkson in Potsdam, N.Y., which eliminated Brown from playoff contention, the Bears had to decide how they would finish the season.
Facing No. 6 St. Lawrence the following afternoon in Canton was a stiff test, but the Bears took the Saints to the wire before losing, 3-2. The losses dropped Brown's record to 3-19-5 (2-14-4 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference), but the Bears were pleased with the improvement leading to the near upset.
"The Clarkson game was ... probably the worst game we played all year collectively," said co-captain Rylee Olewinski '08. "The effort really wasn't there and nothing was clicking for us. But we came back, and I thought we played really well against St. Lawrence. ... I was glad to see that our team could rebound from such a poor showing on Friday night and come back with all that energy on Saturday."
Things didn't start out so badly for Brown against Clarkson. The Bears held their own until they were whistled for a penalty in the 13th minute of the first period. At 13:03, Genevieve Lavoie beat goaltender Nicole Stock '09, a Herald contributing writer, through her legs. The rout was on.
"It's just a momentum changer when a team goes on a power play and you can't kill it off," Olewinski said. "It hurts to go down like that. ... That was just the start of it for the Clarkson game - the one goal. Obviously, power play goal or not, our effort wasn't really there that game, and I don't think we could have done much about it."
The Golden Knights tacked on another goal 2:26 later, then took a 3-0 lead with 6:16 remaining in the second period. Katie Morrison collected a turnover, broke alone down the ice and beat Stock with a nifty deke. After two periods, Clarkson held a 25-4 advantage in shots and Brown had not had a power play.
"They got out ahead of us early and we couldn't fight through it," said Head Coach Digit Murphy. "I think our penalty kill wasn't as organized as we wanted it to be. You live and die by your forecheck and penalty kill at some level, because if you're successful at executing those two parts of the game, then you can change momentum."
The Bears recovered to fire nine shots in the third period, but could not find the back of the net. Instead, it was the Golden Knights who tacked on two goals in the first nine minutes to complete the 5-0 thrashing. Stock made 34 saves, but was bested by Clarkson goalie Lauren Dahm, who earned the shutout with 13 saves. Britney Selina collected a goal and three assists for the Golden Knights.
After such a poor showing, the Bears needed to take action.
"We had a team meeting in the locker room after the game on Friday," Olewinski said. "(Players) got up, said what they needed to say and tried to pull together and realize that we could either pack it in for the last three games of the season, or we could try to turn it around right there and just end on a positive note and go into St. Lawrence and try to pull off an upset. We ended up losing 3-2, but it was probably the best game we played all year."
Brown struck first on a power play with 4:23 remaining in the first period. After taking a pass from Jenny Cedorchuk '10, Olewinski took a shot from the blue line that St. Lawrence goalie Meaghan Guckian deflected out to Andrea Hunter '10, who capitalized for her fifth goal of the season.
The Bears were pleased to take a lead into the first intermission.
"Any time you can do that against a good team, it makes you feel like you can stay in the game," Olewinski said. "We tried to rally around that and keep up our energy."
But the Saints came roaring back to post a 24-6 advantage in shots in the second period. At 6:02, Lisa Batchelor got the puck near the crease after Stock made a diving save and tied the game. 6:43 later, Karell Emard knocked home a rebound to give St. Lawrence the lead.
But the Bears refused to give up.
"When they came up 2-1 on us, we knew we could either roll over and that would be it, or we could pick up our energy and keep going at it," Olewinski said.
With 1:54 left in the period, Olewinski knotted the score at two with her seventh goal of the season.
"Erica Kromm ('11) took a good shot from the point, and I went in for the rebound from the boards," Olewinski said. "My initial shot actually just came right back out to me. When I got it I just had a little more patience and waited and got it over the goalie."
Going into intermission tied gave the Bears confidence.
"In between the second and third periods, we talked about doing something really great," Murphy said. "'Let's beat a top-ten-ranked team. We can do it.' And, unfortunately, we didn't, but we came close enough to have a lot of self-respect."
Indeed, it was the Saints who pulled away. On a power play 7:11 into the third period, Alison Domenico redirected a shot by Brittaney Maschmeyer past Stock to give St. Lawrence a 3-2 lead.
The Bears kept battling but never notched the equalizer, though they came tantalizingly close. With 1:23 remaining, a shot by Hayley Moore '08 appeared to slip under Guckian and cross the goal line, but the referee had already blown the play dead.
"Hayley Moore took a great shot from the bottom of the circle," Olewinski said. "We all thought it went in, (but the) goal judge and referee denied us that."
Still, the game was no occasion for bitterness. Even though the Bears didn't pick up a win, Murphy was pleased with how well the players hung tough.
"It's their heart that gets them through the weekend, when a lot of other teams would have quit," she said.
The Bears will finish their season with a pair of games at Meehan Auditorium, where they are 0-8-2 this season. Brown hosts Rensselaer (6-10-4 ECAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and ECAC doormat Union (0-18-2 in conference play) on Saturday at 4 p.m. The games will mark the conclusion of the careers of four seniors: Moore, Olewinski, Heather Lane '08 and Emilie Bydwell '08. Murphy cited many reasons that make this a big weekend.
"Playing in Meehan for the seniors' last game is important," she said. "I think Brown pride is on the line. I know we've struggled in our own building. I think there are a lot of great things that can come out of this weekend. If we play well in the first game and the second game we could sweep, which we haven't done all year."
