The Massachusetts women’s club hockey team lost both of its games in its weekend double-header against rival Rhode Island, 9-5 and 3-2 (OT), respectively.
“We just didn’t show up to play, we weren’t mentally ready to play on Friday,” UMass coach Chris Cobb said following his teams disappointing 9-5 loss.
The team committed a slew of penalties from mental mistakes that ended up costing them the game.
After the mental lapse on Friday night, the Minutewomen responded strongly on Saturday afternoon.
“We had the lead 2-1 in the third period and we took a shot that clearly went in, I saw it myself from the bench,” Cobb said. “But the ref was in a bad position to see it and as a result they tied the game up and ended up scoring in overtime to beat us.”
Freshman goalkeeper Chelsea Corell had an impressive individual performance in the second game against the Rams in which she stopped 60 shots, keeping the Minutewomen alive.
URI’s weekend success can be largely attributed to junior forward Johanna Leskinen, a Finland native, who Cobb called “the best player in the country.”
“I think she had six or seven points in the first game and without her we win both those games,” Cobb said.
However, the Minutewomen need to clean up defensively if they plan on reaching the national tournament, according to Cobb.
“We had 16 penalties in the two games, we just didn’t play good defensively,” Cobb said. “We gave up about 100 shots and couldn’t get the puck out of our zone, which ended up leading to penalties.”
The Minutewomen have a young squad that is still adjusting to the tough competition, of their five main defensemen, three are either a sophomore or freshman.
“They’ve come together real well,” Cobb said. “They mesh well. We have a bunch of different personalities on the team and our captains, Catherine O’Brien and Betsy Riegel are very good both on and off the ice.”
Leading UMass offensively is freshman forward Sarah Oteri with four points, including two goals and two assists, while Catherine O’Brien and C.J. Kenney follow behind with three points apiece.
Despite the losses over the weekend, Cobb still found positives in his young squad.
“We battled hard, we fought and worked hard and we just kept going,” Cobb said. “That’s a positive we can take out of this weekend.”
The Rams improve to 5-2-1 while the Minutewomen drop to 0-4.
The Minutewomen have not had an easy road thus far this season. They have played No. 2 Michigan State and the No. 4 Rams.
UMass is scheduled to play seven of the current top eight teams in the country, including No. 1 team in the nation, Lindenwood.
However, Cobb’s squad must focus on taking it one game at a time and that means not overlooking the Penn. State.
“They have great goaltending,” Cobb said. “They have great coaching. They always give us a great game.”
The Minutewomen will travel to the Ice Pavilion in Pennsylvania, still in search of their first victory, to take on the No. 7 Nittany Lions on Friday and Saturday.
The top eight teams in the nation get into the national tournament and right now, UMass is ranked ninth according to the season’s first national rankings.
A quality win against the Nittany Lions will likely be essential for the Minutewomen if they expect to make it to the national tournament like they did last year.
Patrick Keller can be reached at [email protected].
