A senior night celebration for the Massachusetts women’s club hockey team was followed by high energy and skill right out of the gate, but didn’t end without an unexpected scare from Rhode Island.
Brianna O’Neill and Joanna Zhu scored two goals in the first five minutes for UMass (12-12-3) in an impressive opening period. Despite two late Rams (9-16) netters, the Minutewomen kept the ship steady, winning their final game of the season 3-2.
The two teams had clashed five times before this meeting with UMass taking care of business three of those games. Saturday night’s battle came after a thriller the night before in Kingston, Rhode Island, where the Minutewomen scored in overtime to upset the Rhody faithful.
It was a night to remember for many of the veteran leaders who were celebrated in front of a raucous Mini Mullins crowd, but one in particular was the team captain, O’Neill. She got things going three minutes into the game with a goal that required patience and focus. A scrum in front of goal could have forced O’Neill to over-anticipate, but she stood her ground and waited for the puck to free from the pile as she slotted it into the net. That goal was number 10 on the season, as well as point 18.
“She works hard. She loves to play… Those two things combined make for success,” head coach Bill Wright said when asked about O’Neill’s work ethic.
Less than two minutes later, her forward counterpart, Zhu, skated onto the ice for her first shift. The puck fell onto her stick courtesy of a kind UMass ricochet. She fired a quick wrist shot into the top right corner of Madeline Ashenfelter’s net to put the Minutewomen up two goals to zero in no time.
Wright noted how he was very impressed with the start, but he put some of it on the festivities of the day. “When we play with emotion, we play hard, it usually goes positive,” Wright said.
Hannah Gromko added a third goal in the second period, while Colleen McMakin dominated off the bench in net for UMass. It seemed like the Minutewomen were in complete control of the outcome, until their focus faltered.
With 1:47 left in the game, Saige Moore scored on a six against five with Ashenfelter out of her net. The score was now 3-1. About a minute later, Audrey Rowen scored off a Mary Honan rebound to cut the UMass lead to just one.
Wright called a timeout so the Minutewomen would have a chance to refocus. Following the quick break, the face-off was one by UMass. An errand pass by a Minutewomen let the puck fall right to the stick of Rhode Island point-leader, Grace Gibbons. Right as she was about to tie the game with a slap shot, the on-ice official whistled her teammate Bella Bonfiglio offsides, and that was it.
In a way, that last sequence defined Saturday night’s matchup. Whether it was the officials, or the stellar defensive play of UMass, the stars of the Rams couldn’t seem to get it going when it mattered most. The Minutewomen had their defense women Sydney Eitel, Sara Dunford, Shelby Little and more to thank for the win.
Emotions were high as the season came to an end with a big victory for a connected and beloved UMass team. Senior night and a weekend series with the Rhode Island was a big success for the Minutewomen.
“Honestly, it was our best game of the season,” O’Neill said. “I wouldn’t have picked a better team to be the leader of and picked a better group of girls to have as my sisters.”
Zeke Altman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @EzekielAltman
