The women's hockey team went 1-2 over the long weekend at Meehan Auditorium, beating Union, 3-2, on Friday before falling to Rensselaer, 2-1, on Saturday and Yale, 2-0, on Tuesday to drop its record to 6-20-1 overall and 5-15-0 in ECAC Hockey play.
The Bears played perhaps their strongest defense of the season, limiting their opponents to a total of 76 shots over the three games, well below the season average of 39 shots against per game, while captain Nicole Stock '09, a Herald sports staff writer, surrendered only five goals - Yale notched an empty-net goal.
But Bruno was undone by an offense that sputtered against RPI and Yale.
Brown 3, Union 2
The weekend began on a brighter note against Union (2-27-3, 0-19-1), winning the previous 11 meetings against the Dutchwomen, as the Bears secured their first home win since a 2-1 victory over Northeastern on Jan. 3.
"I like us better on the road - for whatever reason we seem to be more focused - but today the players, I think, really focused and did what they had to do," Head Coach Digit Murphy said after the game.
After a quiet first period in which Brown held only a 9-6 advantage in shots, the Bears turned up the intensity in the subsequent frame, keyed in part, Murphy said, as the coach promoted Nicole Brown '10 to the top line to partner with assistant captain Andrea Hunter '10 and Jenna Dancewicz '11, combining the team's three top scorers.
It took more than 12 minutes for Bruno's aggressive play to pay off, but the team cashed in quickly on an early power play. Hunter took a shot from the right point that pulled Union goaltender Lundy Day to that side of the crease. Dancewicz secured the rebound and buried the puck into the half-open net.
Thirty-three seconds later, Kath Surbey '10 knocked in another goal off assists from Erin Connors '10 and Paige Pyett '12 to double Bruno's lead with 6:30 remaining in the second period.
"It really gave us a big confidence boost," Dancewicz said. "I thought we started playing better and better after that. Even though Union did score after that, we still kept our heads up. Whenever we score first, we always have more confidence in the game."
The Bears needed that energy to survive the next five minutes, when the Dutchwomen came roaring back on the strength of two quick power-play goals. 2:20 after Surbey's goal, Emilie Arseneault bounced a puck off of Stock's outstretched leg and into the back of the net. And with 1:48 remaining in the period, Lauren Hoffman beat Stock with a shot from the blue line to tie the game.
The Bears bore down in the third period to outshoot the Dutchwomen, 13-4. Erica Kromm '11 netted the game-winning goal on a power play 5:02 into the third frame off assists from assistant captain Samantha Stortini '11 and Nicole Brown.
"It was from the point - Stortini passed it over and I just (took a) wrist shot," Kromm said. Nicole Brown "had a good screen in front of the net. I actually think she tipped it in."
RPI 2, Brown 1
The Engineers (14-13-4, 9-8-3) scored back-to-back goals in the second period on Saturday to ruin a good effort by the Bears. Kromm said while the result was disappointing, there were a number of positives the team could take from the game.
"We played very well together," she said. "The two quick goals in the second period they got against us kind of brought us down, but we came back in the third (and) played really hard."
"We did our forecheck really well and we executed some of our coaches' plays very well," Kromm added.
RPI took the lead 9:20 into the second period, and on the subsequent faceoff, Whitney Naslund secured the puck, drove all the way down the ice and beat Stock to double the Engineers' lead just eight seconds later.
Entering the final period, the Engineers held a 21-6 advantage in shots, but the Bears turned the tables in the third to post an 11-4 advantage.
"By that time we knew what their systems were, how they played, how fast they were and how well they could move the puck," Dancewicz said. "By the third period, we were able to adjust to that and play above and beyond their level."
Dancewicz put one in off an assist from Stortini 4:23 after intermission, but Bruno could not net the equalizer over the next 14 minutes.
With 1:40 remaining in the game Murphy pulled Stock, setting up an exciting finish. The puck kept bouncing around RPI's crease but never found the back of the net, sealing the 2-1 loss.
Yale 2, Brown 0
In a battle for ninth place in ECAC Hockey on Tuesday, the Bulldogs took control with a fluky first-period goal. Stock put in a good effort with 33 saves, but Jackee Snikeris stopped all 21 of the Bears' shots, and Yale tacked on a late empty-net goal to produce the final score.
"Nicole Stock and our defense played really, really well," Murphy said. "It's really frustrating that we can't find a way to put the puck in the net."
Thanks to two straight Yale penalties, Bruno had the man advantage for all but four seconds of a stretch between 7:23 and 11:27. The Bears could not find the back of the net.
Yale's early go-ahead goal came with just over six minutes to go in the first period, when the Bulldogs' Helen Resor, a U.S. Olympian in 2006, took a hard shot from the point. Teammate Maggie Westfal knocked down near the left post and slipped into the goal.
With just around two minutes remaining in the game Murphy pulled Stock, but the Bears could not get anything going with the extra skater, and the Bulldogs found the back of the empty net to produce the final 2-0 score.
"I thought we had a very, very good effort tonight," Murphy said. "We executed our game plan pretty well - I mean, the goal that they scored wasn't great, and an empty-netter. But we have to score goals to win. We've got some juniors and seniors up front ... that we need to step up to the plate."
