The women’s hockey team (8-12-1, 4-9-1 ECAC) opened up their weekend with a home game against No. 10 St. Lawrence (17-8-0, 10-3-0 ECAC) at Meehan Auditorium Friday evening.
The Bears came out aggressive in Friday’s contest, firing four shots in just under four minutes of play. After playing with some urgency early on, the Bears gradually slowed their pace, retreating back on defense to avoid an early St. Lawrence goal.
This strategy proved to be necessary, as St. Lawrence fired seven shots at Bruno over the span of four minutes. Brown goalie Kaley Doyle ’24 sheltered the Bears from an aggressive Saints offense, saving eight shots within the first 14 minutes. But at the 15:16 mark, St. Lawrence forward Kennedy Wilson won a faceoff which led to her teammate, Anna Segidi, launching the puck past the Bruno defense for the match’s first goal.
The Bears had a strong start to the second period, with Brown forward Jade Iginla ’26 winning a faceoff and quickly firing a shot at the St. Lawrence defense that wound up wide — and at 1:06, a St. Lawrence boarding penalty left Brown with an attractive opportunity at a power play. The Bears tried to capitalize, firing a series of shots at Saints defenders, though they found no success.
It was not until 16:13 in the second period when the Bears found themselves truly struggling. Despite winning a faceoff shortly before, the Bears’ defense allowed another goal to opposing forward Kennedy Wilson, who extended the St. Lawrence lead to 2-0 after the second period.
The third and final period was more of the same for Bruno, who never managed to find their groove offensively, and constantly found themselves with their backs against the wall. At the 10:37 mark, St. Lawrence forward Rachel Bjorgan killed Bruno’s comeback hopes with the game’s third goal, making the lead 3-0. And roughly four minutes later, the Saints’ Aly McLeod put a nail in the coffin with another goal, leaving Brown down 4-0 with under ten minutes remaining.
“When we talked earlier today I said we would learn a lot about our team now that we're getting back into conference play,” said Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi in a statement to Brown Athletics. “We did a good job killing the power play against one of the top units in the country and we had some good chances. Doyle played well tonight, give credit to St. Lawrence they created a lot on offense. We have to find ways to finish and create more offense.”
Less than 24 hours after Friday’s loss, the women’s hockey team suited up at home again to host No. 3 Clarkson (23-1-2, 12-1-1 ECAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Saturday’s contest against Clarkson began much differently from Friday’s against St. Lawrence. As opposed to playing with early aggression, the Bears were forced to defend, surviving an 11-shot run in the first 10 minutes of the game. Doyle displayed prowess fending off shots and keeping Brown in the game.
The Bears eventually picked up the pace, leading a run of their own which included a series of shots from Gali Levy ’26 and Iginla. Despite a strong effort from Brown’s offense, they were not able to sneak the puck past Clarkson’s defense, leaving the game tied for nearly the entire first period. Clarkson broke the ice with the first goal of the game just before the period ended, where at the 19:40 mark, Clarkson forward Sena Catterall launched the puck past Brown’s defense for a goal.
The second period started off slowly for Brown, as they gave the Golden Knights a power play opportunity and failed to take advantage of their own power play opportunity shortly after. Nevertheless, at the 13:21 mark, Brown forward India McDadi ’26 fired the puck for a goal and brought the Bears to a 1-1 tie. The Bears continued their momentum and aggression, as just minutes later, forward Ava Decoste ’27 scored an additional goal, giving the Bears a 2-1 lead.
The lead, however, did not last long, as Clarkson’s offense quickly responded a mere minute later with a goal, bringing the game back to even at 2-2. Brown made things difficult for themselves early on in the third period, as a Sam Broz ’27 penalty gave Clarkson a quick power play. Clarkson capitalized on the numbers advantage, scoring a goal in under two minutes into the period and providing them with a 3-2 lead.
Brown struggled to find their momentum again in the third period, failing to capitalize on a power play and find any offensive rhythm. In a last-minute effort to score, Brown took Doyle out of the net for some additional offense, but this strategy wound up unsuccessful, as the Golden Knights extended their lead at the 17:40 mark with an empty-net goal, leaving the Bears with a 4-2 loss.
The Bears will now prepare for their next opponent, No. 12 Princeton (12-7-3, 5-7-3 ECAC), who they will host on Friday at 6 p.m.
Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports and arts & culture. He is a freshman from Alexandria, Virginia studying Economics and International and Public Affairs.
