The University of Maine women’s hockey team fell to Quinnipiac University 3-2 in overtime in their season home opener on Friday, Oct. 11.
Third-year forward Maddie Giordano scored the first goal of the game for the Black Bears, coming off a huge rebound shot from second-year forward Liga Miljone. With under five minutes left in the first period, first-year forward Sadie Peart scored for the Bobcats on the powerplay. Just ten seconds later, first-year forward Alexa Hoskin took a faceoff and sent the puck to second-year forward Lexie Adzija, who fired top-shelf past Maine’s fourth-year goaltender Carly Jackson. The Black Bears tied the game at two with 30 seconds left in the second period on a powerplay goal. Giordano scored off a rebound, while first-year defender Ella MacLena and Miljone tallied assists. Quinnipiac finished off the Black Bears in overtime when fourth-year defensemen Kenzie Prater hit a shot from the top of the left side, and Peart tipped in the game-winning goal and her second of the game. Jackson made 25 saves on the night and fourth-year goalie for Quinnipiac, Abbie Ives, tallied 16 saves on the night.
On Saturday, Oct. 12, the University of Maine women’s hockey team skated to a 0-0 tie with the Quinnipiac Bobcats. In the first period, it was a back and forth battle with neither team being able to score. The Bobcats outshot Maine 8-7 in the first period. The second period was mostly Maine’s, as the Black Bears outshot the Bobcats but Ives stopped all 24 shots Maine took. The Bobcats had 12 shots in the period, but third-year goaltender Loryn Porter stopped them all. Porter stopped all eight shots in the final period and got five shot blocks from her defenses which led to overtime. The game went into overtime and ultimately ended in a 0-0 tie. Maine led in total shots 46-41 and Porter collected her second shutout in two games this season.
On Friday, Oct. 18, the University of Maine women’s hockey team fell to nationally-ranked Northeastern University 6-1 at the Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine. First-year forward Jess Schryver opened up the scoring for the Huskies with her first career collegiate goal coming with nine minutes left in the first period. No less than 13 seconds after Schtyver’s goal, fourth-year forward Matti Hartman extended the lead on her third goal of the year to put the Huskies up 2-0. With six minutes to go in the first period, second-year forward Chloe Aurard scored for the Huskies to push the lead to 3-0.
Northeastern continued to pile on the score heading into the second period, with second-year forward Mia Brown increasing the lead to 4-0 five minutes in. Second-year forward Alina Muller scored two goals on the night for the Huskies, one towards the end of the second period and one six minutes into the third period to break the game open to 6-0. Maine finally scored their first goal of the night when fourth-year forward Tereza Vanisova went coast-to-coast and beat Northeastern’s third-year goaltender Aerin Frankel with a nice deke.
The Black Bears fall to 2-2-1 and 0-1-0 in Hockey East. The Black Bears will face off against the University of New Hampshire in the Border Battle Friday, Oct. 25, at 6:00 p.m. in Durham, New Hampshire. On Saturday, Oct. 26, at 2:00 p.m. the Black Bears will travel to Boston College to take on the Eagles in a Hockey East matchup.
