Rams senior forward Emma Hill receives the puck during their Nov. 21 game against McKendree. PHOTO CREDIT: Siobhan Richards
After scoring a season-high seven goals in a win on Nov. 14 at Concordia University, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Ice Hockey team couldn’t replicate their success a week prior against McKendree University.
The team dropped a home contest against No. 9 McKendree University by a score of 4-1 to move to 4-6 this season.
“I think we played better last weekend,” URI Women’s Ice Hockey Head Coach Ray Boudiette said. “We had a good last 20 minutes today, and it was a pretty good effort, [but] we just have to figure out how to make it a full 60 minutes”.
The visitors got off to a fast start in the first period. Forty-two seconds into the game, McKendree forward Jaynee Smothers put one past URI goaltender Janelle Kelleher for her third goal of the season. From here, McKendree remained in control of the game.
In the second period, URI allowed three more goals to McKendree’s Brittney Kambeitz, Madison Puffalt and Aria Groot.
URI rallied together in the third period and scored their first goal of the game, preventing the shutout. Senior forward Carissa Rego scored her fourth goal of the season, assisted by Elizabeth Guthrie and Emma Hill, to make it 4-1.
Even after scoring the only goal of the game, Rego wanted to recognize her teammates Lindsay Brady and Emma Hill for being their biggest backcheckers and hustlers of the game. In ice hockey, backchecking refers to when a defensive player chases after the offensive player with the puck in order to prevent a potential transition scoring opportunity.
Along with Brady and Hill, the rest of the team fought hard until the very end of the game, according to Rego.
“I think we had a tough first period but we bounced back,” Rego said. “We brought the energy in the second [period], and the third was definitely our strongest period.”
There were two penalties throughout the game. The first two-minute penalty was given to Lindsey Brady for holding with 7:20 left in the first period. The second was also given to URI defensewomen Sara Abrahamson, who was sent to the penalty box for cross checking.
“I think it’s really just the consistency from one game to the next, from one period to the next, or even one shift of possession to the next even,” Boudiette said. “If we can clean that up and make it a consistent 60 minutes, I think we’ll be just fine.”
Going forward, Rego explained that they need to work on cleaning up the positioning with their defensive zone.
“It is important to make sure you know what your job is because if somebody shifts off their job, it’s a domino effect,” she said.
The team is back in action this weekend when they host a two-game series against No. 8 UMass Amherst. The first game will begin Friday at 7 p.m. and the final game will take place on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Boss Ice Arena.