The Massachusetts women’s club hockey team fell to the University of Rhode Island 4-2 in its second matchup of the weekend Saturday morning. The Minutewomen (9-9-3) came into the contest off a 4-1 win against the Rams (9-9-0) on Friday night.
URI put the nail in the coffin late in the first period when Penny Spack scored an unassisted goal, bringing its goal tally to three goals within the first frame of play.
Spack found the back of UMass goaltender Mary Honan’s net after skating through its defenders. She shot the puck under Honan’s legs after gaining possession of the puck behind the blue line.
Despite the Minutewomen coming out of the gates aggressively, shooting on the Rams net within the first thirty seconds of play, they were unable to hold onto the puck. URI opened the morning’s scoring during a power play with 15 minutes left in the first period.
UMass forward Maya Shapiro was in the penalty box for interference and the Rams took advantage of having an extra woman on the ice. Spack passed from the blue line to Allie Guthrie right by Honan’s goal and chipped the puck into the back of the net.
From there, URI’s Rylee Tanner gave it a two-goal lead with about nine minutes remaining in the first frame of play.
“We got a slow start… [the Rams] got a quick start and got up, got a lead against us,” head coach Bill Wright said. “We tried… to get back, but we just didn’t have it today. Tough one.”
Despite trailing entering the second period, the Minutewomen got their name on the scoresheet after eight minutes of play time.
Hannah Gromko was in the box for a holding penalty and soon after found the back of URI goaltender Morgan Ainley’s net. After hopping back onto the ice, Gromko received the puck from a misplaced Rams pass, skating to the right of the goal, placing it behind Ainley close to the post.
UMass’ second and final goal broke URI’s lines in the third frame of play. Joanna Dustin scored her ninth goal of the season with six minutes remaining in the matchup. She intercepted a pass from the Rams’ Grace Gibbons, skating up to Ainley in goal and chipping it over her shoulder to find the back of the net. Her goal brought the score line to a two-goal deficit after URI’s Audrey Rowen scored their fourth goal of the morning matchup with over 10 minutes of play time remaining.
Despite not securing a second consecutive win, the Minutewomen’s offense forced Ainley to make many crucial saves. Shooting on goal 49 times, Wright believed they should have had 60 shots during the contest.
“We need to get more shots through…but we just didn’t take [the] opportunities to shoot the puck,” Wright said. “We’re looking to cycle it to the corner instead of bringing [the puck] to the net.”
Looking forward to the Minutewomen’s series next weekend, forward Lily Sparrow said UMass needs to build off the “simple things,” and small parts of playing on the ice that add up to scoring goals.
The Minutewomen will be home next weekend to host Niagara University. The first game of the weekend series is scheduled for Friday Feb. 14 at 6:20 p.m.
“For Niagara, we need to bring more intensity,” Sparrow said. “You definitely can’t start slow against them…something like that… is going to be harder to come back against and just making sure we’re physical against them they’re a pretty big team.”
Emma Bensley can be reached at [email protected].
