The women's hockey team ended its season this weekend, capping the college careers of several players, including captain and goaltender Nicole Stock '09, who broke her own single-season saves record in the team's final game, a 3-1 victory over Quinnipiac Saturday at Meehan Auditorium.
"It was a nice way to go out on Senior Day," said Head Coach Digit Murphy. "The kids played hard. After all the losses we've had all season it's nice to go out with a victory."
The win over Quinnipiac followed a 3-0 loss to Princeton the previous day. The .500 weekend left the team's final record at 7-21-1 and 6-16-0 in ECAC Hockey, each two wins better than last season.
All three of the team's seniors - Stock, a Herald sports staff writer, Savannah Smith '09 and Frances Male '09 - started both games to bring their careers to a close.
Brown 3, Quinnipiac 1
Saturday against Quinnipiac (3-26-5, 2-15-5 ECAC Hockey), the Bears brought a sometimes trying season to a victorious close.
The Bears started quickly, taking just 5:12 to break through for the lead on the first goal of forward Katelyn Landry's '12 career. Jacquie Pierri '12 took a shot from the right point that deflected off Landry at the top of the crease and ricocheted just inside the right post. Male was also credited with an assist on the play.
It was early in the second period, with Brown still holding its one-goal advantage, that Stock recorded her record-breaking 1,005th save of the season. She would finish the game with 1,026 saves for the season and 2,848 for her career, extending a record she captured earlier in the season.
Jenna Dancewicz '11 doubled the lead 9:32 into the second period with her team-leading eighth goal of the season, off assists by assistant captain Andrea Hunter '10 and Nicole Brown '10.
Brown notched a goal of her own 8:09 later while her team was on the penalty kill. After the Bears cleared the puck all the way down the ice, Bobcats goalie Nanna Holm Glaas came out of the crease to stop the puck for a teammate. Brown stole the puck, circled behind the net, wrapped around and slipped the puck just past a diving Glaas.
With 2:19 remaining in the second period, Bruno had a 3-0 lead to protect.
"We pulled together as a team and were like, 'Okay, we have three. Let's manage the game, be smart about it and hopefully we'll come out with a win.' I think we did that really well in the third. We played good defense," Stock said.
The Bobcats ruined Stock's shutout bid 5:31 into the third period, but the goalie bore down to keep it from getting any closer, making 12 of her 33 saves in the final frame.
Murphy was pleased with many aspects of her team's play against a Bobcats team that she called much stronger than the one Brown beat 3-0 on Jan. 30.
"I was proud with our adjustments that we made," Murphy said. "We executed our forecheck really well (and) we got pucks to net. ... Our (penalty) kill was good, it was aggressive (and) we blocked a lot of shots."
"My hat's off to the team," she added. "They played like a team and they finished like a team, which is what I'm most proud of."
Princeton 3, Brown 0
Brown's contest the previous night against Princeton (18-9-2, 15-6-1 ECAC Hockey) ended in defeat even though the Bears hung within a goal until the game's final minutes. The Tigers took the lead on a power-play goal just 1:37 into the second period, then added a pair of insurance goals in the game's final six minutes to seal the win.
The Bears' struggling offense, shut out for the 10th time of the season, was handicapped by a lack of power-play opportunities and was unable to gain a man advantage until there were seven seconds remaining in the game. Princeton rolled to a 49-21 advantage in shots.
"I didn't think that Princeton played no-penalty hockey for that long," Murphy said. "It was very frustrating, especially since they scored on their power play."
There were a few positives the Bears could take out of the game. Stock had a typically strong game with 46 saves, while the defense stepped up to block 17 shots, led by Erica Kromm '11 and Paige Pyett '12 with three apiece.
