Despite Maine’s effort in the final period, the Maine women’s hockey team could not make up enough points to defeat the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the game on Friday, Sept. 31. Maine fell 5-4 — scoring most of their points in the final period.
Going into the third period, the Black Bears were down 5-1. First-year forward Tereza Vanisova scored off an assist from first-year forward Vendula Pribylova and second-year defenseman Cassidy Herman to bring the score up to 5-2. This was Vanisova’s first goal on the season.
Shortly after, fourth-year forward Morgan Sakundiak scored two goals in a row. Her first goal was with an assist from fourth-year forward and captain Emilie Brigham and first-year defender Ebba Strandberg. Sakundiak’s second goal came from a power play with an assist from Pribylova and second-year defender Alyson Matteau. These were Sakundiak’s first two goals of the season, putting her at two goals on the season.
Unfortunately for the Black Bears, these goals were the last of the game and they could not manage to find the back of the net, ending the game at 5-4.
The game started off looking like a potential shutout for Quinnipiac. Within the first three minutes, Quinnipiac was up by 2 points. First to score for the Bobcats was second-year forward Randi Marcon assisted by third-year forward Raquel Pennoyer and fourth-year defender Emma Greco.
Less than a minute later, third-year forward Taylar Cianfarano found the back of the net assisted by second-year forward Melissa Samoskevich.
This did not complete Quinnipiac’s scoring for the period. Samoskevich found the back of the net for her first goal on the season assisted by Cianfarano and fourth-year forward Meghan Turner.
Minutes later fourth-year forward Emma Woods would take the power play opportunity to put it between the posts with an assist by Cianfarano and first-year forward Kenzie Prater. The first period ended 4-0 with Maine trying to catch up.
In the second period, Quinnipiac would score for a fifth time in the game when Cianfarano scored her second goal of the game, capitalizing on the power play. She was assisted by Prater. Maine did not let this goal go though, scoring 10 minutes later in the period. Third-year forward Catherine Tufts was the first Black Bear to find the back of the net on the power play when a puck deflected off a Bobcat defender, allowing her to put it in the open net, bringing the score to 5-1 in the second period.
Black Bear redshirt first-year goaltender Carly Jackson took the loss for the night, putting her record at 0-2, while Bobcat fourth-year goaltender Sydney Rossman got the win, putting her at 1-0 for the season.
After this game Maine moves to 1-2-0 on the season, while Quinnipiac moves to 1-0-0. The teams will be back on the ice against each other Saturday, Oct. 1 with a face-off scheduled at 3 p.m.
Maine falls to Quinnipiac in shutout game
In game two of their weekend series at Quinnipiac University, the women’s hockey team was unable to find the back of the net, falling 0-3 to the Bobcats. This loss moves the Black Bears to 1-3-0 on the season, while Quinnipiac moves to 2-0-0.
All three of the scoring plays came in the second period. Cianfarano managed to net her third goal of the weekend six and a half minutes into the period off an assist from second-year forward Kenzie Lancaster. Turner scored the second goal for the Bobcats, halfway through the period, bringing the score to 2-0. This was her first goal on the season.
The last goal of the game came in the last minute of the period from Samoskevich, with Turner taking the assist. This was Samoskevich’s second goal of the weekend and Turner’s second assist.
The rest of the game did not see any more scoring and neither team was able to capitalize on the power play opportunity, although Rossman saw 17 shots on goal from Maine compared to Quinnipiac’s 25 shots. Rossman took the win, moving to 2-0-0 on the season, while Jackson took the loss, falling to 0-3-0 on the season.
Maine will return to the ice on Saturday, Oct. 8 in Chestnut Hill, Mass. for a weekend series against Boston College. The puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m. Quinnipiac will travel to University of Connecticut on Friday, Oct. 7 with a puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.
