On Friday, Nov. 29, the University of Maine women’s ice hockey team picked up a huge 6-1 win over Dartmouth College.
The Black Bears came out strong in the first period, scoring the first goal of the game in a 4-on-4 situation. Second-year forward Liga Miljone gathered a rebound to score her fifth goal of the season while first-year forward Morgan Trimper and fourth-year forward Tereza Vanisova picked up assists. Vanisova would then take control of the period, scoring twice within nine seconds. Her first goal of the game, marking her eighth of the season came at the 14-minute mark, where she scored off an assist from third-year forward Daria Tereshkina who received the puck from Trimper.
Vanisova’s second goal came off of the ensuing faceoff, which she won, and dished the puck right to the stick of Trimper, who fired a shot at Dartmouth’s first-year goaltender Hannah Humphreys, and Vanisova pounced on the rebound. With the puck gathered, Vanisova quickly turned and fired a wrist shot top shelf on Humphreys’ stick-side.
Fourth-year goaltender Carly Jackson kept Dartmouth off of the board through the first, stopping all ten shots she was faced with, allowing Maine to head into the first intermission with a commanding 3-0 lead. Dartmouth found its way back into the game in the second when second-year forward Gabby Billing scored an unassisted goal that got Dartmouth on the board.
The Black Bears would increase their lead back to three just one minute later when first-year defender Amalie Anderson fired a shot from the blue line past Humphreys, scoring her first career collegiate goal. Third-year forward Maddie Giordano and Miljone picked up assists on the play.
Maine would go into the second intermission with the 4-1 lead and all the momentum for the third period. Second-year defender Ida Press got the scoring started for Maine in the period, scoring her second of the season with a well-placed slapshot from the blue line. Vanisova and Miljone both picked up assists on the goal. With the third period winding down, first-year forward Ida Kuoppala scored her sixth goal of the season and second-year forward Ali Beltz picked up her team-leading ninth assist of the season. Jackson finished the game with 16 saves, picking up her fourth win of the season.
In the second game of the series. The University of Maine women’s ice hockey team fell to Dartmouth College 5-2.
Maine got the scoring started in the first period, when Press got a takeaway in neutral ice and fired a slapshot by Humphreys to give the Black Bears a 1-0 lead just three minutes into the game. This was Press’ third goal of the season and the second of the weekend. Twenty six seconds later Dartmouth tied it up when third-year forward
Jennifer Costa found the back of the net. Fourth-year forward Christina Rombaut and third-year forward Emily McLaughlin picked up assists on the play.
The Black Bears would answer back, as second-year forward Ally Johnson went coast to coast to power her shot to the back of the net, picking up her second goal of the season. Vanisova and Tereshkina picked up assists on the play. Third-year goaltender Loryn Porter ended the first period with four saves on five shots.
With 14 seconds remaining in Dartmouth’s power play, fourth-year forward Bailee Brekke scored at the 14 minute mark in the second period to tie the score once more. First-year forward CC Bowlby’s shorthanded goal less than three minutes later gave the Big Green their first lead of the weekend. With Maine down significantly, the Black Bears pulled Porter and threw Jackson into the goal in an effort to turn the tide.
Regardless of the change in Maine’s net, Dartmouth continued to find ways through Maine’s defense. Rombaut tallied a powerplay goal at the halfway mark of the third period with Maine committing a roughly penalty at the hands of third-year forward Ally Johnson. First-year forward Currie Putrah and second-year defender Givanna Foglia picked up assists on the goal.
Dartmouth would find the net once more, scoring their third power play goal of the game off of the stick of first-year forward Catherine Trevors and ending the game with a final score of 5-2.
After splitting the series 1-1, the Black Bears have maintained their positioning within the Hockey East playoff picture thus far.
The University of Maine women’s ice hockey team fell to the University of Vermont 3-2 in a close Hockey East contest on Friday, Dec. 6.
The Black Bears grabbed the lead two minutes into the game on Vanisova’s tenth goal of the season. She received a pass from fourth-year defender Brittany Colton in the neutral zone and slipped the puck past first-year goaltender Natalie Ferenc on a partial breakaway.
Third-year forward Kristina Shanahan tied the game with two minutes left in the frame, tipping in a shot from first-year forward Lily Humphrey in the high slot. First-year defender Sara Levesque was credited with an assist on the play as well.
Fourth-year forward Ali O’Leary put the Catamounts up 2-1 with 11 minutes left in the second period for her third tally of the season, firing a slap shot past the glove of Jackson. Fourth-year forward Eve-Audrey Picard had the primary assist and Levesque registered her second assist of the game. Maine quickly answered when first-year forward Ida Kuoppala buried a wraparound goal 59 seconds later. Kuoppala’s goal was her seventh of her first season, while fourth-year forward Vendula Pribylova and first-year forward Nicole Pateman picked up the assist on the tally.
Second-year forward Corinne McCool netted the game-winning goal for Vermont with nine minutes left in regulation. The puck was loose in the crease before McCool jammed it into the back of the net. Second-year forward Theresa Schafzahl and third-year forward Val Caldwell assisted on the deciding goal. Maine could not find the back of the net in the final minutes of the third period eventually falling to the Catamount. Jackson had 22 saves in the contest, while Maine could only manage 12 shots on goal.
In their follow up contest on Saturday, Dec. 7, the Black Bears fell short once more to the Catamounts, 3-2. The Catamounts jumped out to a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the game as Shanahan scored her second goal of the series.
Press answered for Maine at the midway point of the first period with a power-play goal thanks to a great assist and set up from Miljone. The first period ended 1-1 with both teams looking to make a second period push.
Vermont took advantage of a 4-on-1 rush into the Maine zone with six minutes left in the second period, and second-year defender Maude Poulin-Labelle recorded her eighth goal of the season. McCool gave Vermont a two-goal lead in the final minute of the middle frame when she wired a shot off the post and in. Third-year forward Michelle Weis cut the Catamounts’ lead with ten minutes remaining when first-year defender Nicole Pateman directed a shot on goal and Weis jammed a rebound home for her first of the season, giving Vermont the win with a final score of 3-2. Jackson ended the game with 25 saves and Maine finished with 25 shots. Maine moves to 7-9-2, 4-7-1 in conference play.
Maine will host Franklin Pierce University on Saturday, Dec. 14. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Family Ice Center in Falmouth, Maine.
