It was a difficult weekend at Meehan Auditorium for the women's hockey team, as the squad only managed to score one goal between losses to Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference foes No. 10 Dartmouth and No. 8/9 Harvard. Bruno (7-9-7, 4-8-4 ECAC) got out to an early lead against the Big Green (14-6-2, 10-4-2) but could not keep pace with the high-powered Dartmouth offense.
The following afternoon, a strong defensive display from the Crimson (14-6-1, 11-4-1) kept the Bears scoreless for the first time in five games. Despite the pair of defeats, Bruno still holds a league playoff spot with six games to play in the season.
Dartmouth 3, Brown 1
Bruno got off to a promising start against the Big Green, scoring within the first three minutes of play. Alena Polenska '13 took a feed from co-captain Katelyn Landry '12 and slotted her shot past the goaltender to put Bruno up 1-0.
"We've found this season that we can come out slower than we'd like to at the start," said co-captain Paige Pyett '12. "I think the biggest thing in the Dartmouth game is that we came out from the start — from the first puck drop — and played hard. It was nice to get on the board right away."
But the Big Green responded quickly, netting an equalizer five minutes later courtesy of defender Sasha Nanji. The junior scored her second just four minutes later, and Dartmouth commanded a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.
Dartmouth continued to pressure the Bears' defense in the second, firing twelve shots to Bruno's five. But neither team could find another goal, and the 12 saves from Katie Jamieson '13 kept Bruno in the hunt.
Despite outshooting the Big Green in the third period, the Bears could not find the tying goal they needed, even after pulling Jamieson for the six-on-five advantage. The Big Green added one more on an empty net in the final two minutes to hand the Bears their first loss in four games.
Harvard 3, Brown 0
A strong goaltending performance from Aubree Moore '14 was not enough to keep a potent Harvard team at bay Saturday. Moore recorded 33 saves in the loss, but the Crimson's two goals within a minute of each other in the first period put Harvard on the path to victory.
Midway through the first period, Crimson forward Kaitlin Spurling put home a centered pass to grab the lead. Just 50 seconds later, defender Sarah Edney doubled her team's lead.
Bruno got off eight shots in the period but could not solve Harvard's goalie.
"The Harvard game was a tough one because, unfortunately, we couldn't put the puck in the net," Pyett said. "It's a little trying mentally going into the game that they're ranked top ten in the country, but it's nice to see we can play against teams ranked so high."
Spurling scored her second goal of the game midway through the second period. A shot from the blue line was deflected and skipped past Moore into the net to give the Crimson a three-goal advantage that Bruno could not recover from.
Bruno travels next weekend to face another pair of ECAC opponents, Clarkson (16-7-5, 10-4-2) and St. Lawrence (15-8-4, 9-5-2). The last few games of the season will be crucial for the Bears to stay in the playoff picture.
"We need to jump on them right away, especially in their home building," Moore said. "If we can get a goal or two right off the bat, it will set them back, and we can catch them off guard."
