BY AUSTIN RUSH | Statesman Correspondent | The Statesman After the Maura Crowell era began on a high note last week, No. 2 Boston College brought the women’s hockey team back to earth with a two-game sweep in their first regular season action of the season.
They will be looking for a faster start this weekend facing Bemidji State. The Beavers are coming into the weekend with some momentum after sweeping Vermont this past weekend.The Bulldogs will look to carry over their strong play and build off their newly-acquired confidence against the nation's No. 9 ranked Beavers.
The Beavers have a strong veteran core. They only graduated 15.4% of their points last season. The Bulldogs will have to find a way to slow them down in order to find success in Bemidji.
Heading into last week’s season opener in Chestnut Hill, MA, the Bulldogs were 2-0. After the final buzzer Saturday afternoon the Bulldogs fell back to .500. They could not handle Boston College’s All-American Alex Carpenter, one of the top players in the nation, as she had a hat trick in Saturday’s 4-2 loss.
Head coach Maura Crowell said the two games were vastly different games for UMD. Saturday afternoon the Bulldogs weren’t making mistakes that they were making Friday night.
The Bulldogs were much more aggressive on Saturday and Crowell saw her team going at Boston College head-on and attacking them, catching them off-guard. Saturday’s game was a one-goal game, despite what the final score said. The Bulldogs skated with the Eagles all night long.
UMD outshot the Eagles 14-7 in the third period of Saturday’s game but were unable to bury the equalizer.
“I really thought we were going to score in the final minutes. The chances were there,” Crowell said. Overall, she was pleased with the effort her Bulldogs gave over the weekend, especially on Saturday.
We learned about ourselves this weekend,” Crowell said. Crowell believes her team gained a lot of confidence despite being swept, knowing that they can compete with the top teams.
This weekend the Bulldogs look to get back on the winning side of the things against Bemidji State.The Bulldogs will look to do what they did on Saturday and pepper Bemidji’s goalie Brittni Mowat with shots in hope that more than just two will find the back of the net.
As for who will be between the pipes this weekend, Freshman Maddie Rooney impressed in her NCAA debut against the top-ranked Eagles, stopping 29 of the 33 shots she faced.
“She rose to the occasion,” Crowell said of Rooney. Look for juniors Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Lara Stalder to fill up the score sheet after their three-game scoring streak was snapped in last Saturday’s game. Overall, Brykaliuk had two goals and four assists while Stalder had four goals and one assist.