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Two games. Two wins.
You would think the coach of the University of Maine women’s ice hockey team (7-7-1 overall, 1-5-1 in ECAC East play) would be happy, right? But that’s not the case. Despite 4-3 and 6-0 wins against Wayne State University (3-12-2, 0-3-1) head coach Rick Filighera wasn’t ecstatic with his team’s performance over the weekend.
“I absolutely thought we didn’t play well this weekend at all,” Filighera said.
The Black Bears lacked zip in their game, did not get enough pucks in deep and did not do enough back checking, according to Filighera.
“After last weekend [against Dartmouth] I think we stepped back a little bit again,” Filighera said.
In Saturday’s game, the teams skated to a 1-1 tie after the first period. After a scoreless second period, both teams combined to score five goals in the third period.
At 2:25, sophomore forward Meagan Aarts broke the tie with an assist from sophomore forward Karen Droog. Droog then got her second goal of the game, unassisted, at 9:12 to put the Black Bears up two goals, 3-1.
Less than two minutes later, the Warriors got a goal from Heidi Burns off assists from Brooke Needer and Kelly Zamora.
UMaine captain Kelly Nelson scored at 15:04 to get the Black Bears back up by two, but more than a minute later Wayne State’s Amie Hickerty scored to make the score 4-3.
Wayne State goaltender Tianna-Anne Thibideau made 30 saves for the Warriors, while sophomore Lara Smart made 23 stops.
In Friday’s game, freshman forward Andrea Steranko and Droog combined to score five goals to lead the Black Bears to a 6-0 victory.
Steranko scored a hat trick for UMaine, starting her scoring quickly as she got on the board at 2:58 in the first period off assists from senior defenseman Tracy Caridade and freshman forward Cheryl White. About five minutes later, Steranko scored again with help from White and freshman forward Tristan Desmet.
Droog scored two goals in the second period, the first at 2:55 off an assist from Aarts and again at 10:31 with help from Aarts and junior forward Jarin Sjogren.
Streanko completed the hat trick with 56 seconds left in regulation off assists from freshman forward Rebecca Culver and junior forward Cailee Heggestad.
Wayne State goalie Anna Vander Mariere made 31 saves for the Warriors, while Smart made 20 stops for the Black Bears.
Starting Smart in both games this weekend was Filighera’s attempt to find a No.1 goalie for the team and reward her for her recent success.
“Lara has been playing well in her previous three games,” Filighera said. “Her stats speak for themselves.”
Smart is 3-1-0 with a .935 save percentage, and a 1.70 GAA.
Next Sunday, the Black Bears continue their home stand as they entertain a tough Harvard club (5-5-1, 3-1-1).
“We got to play 10 times better next week to even have a chance of being in that game,” Filighera said.
