Emilie Leger handles the puck during Sunday’s 9-8 shootout loss to Minnesota. PHOTO CREDIT: Siobhan Richards | Contributing Photographer
Despite two game cancellations, the University of Rhode Island Women’s Hockey team fought hard in their only opportunity to play last weekend, but fell short in a shootout to the No. 15-ranked University of Minnesota by a score of 9-8.
The loss drops the team to 6-10 on the season with just four games remaining.
“We’ve had some trouble scoring this season, so I was happy with today’s goals and scoring opportunities,” senior captain Maleah Gillette said.
The Rams got off to a great start in the first period, leading with two goals within the first seven minutes of the game. The first was scored by freshmen forward Meagan Wentworth, her second of the season. She was assisted by Gillette. Rhody’s next goal was scored shortly after by senior forward Carissa Rego to make it 2-0 at the 12:37 mark in the first period.
It was not too much later that Minestota’s first goal of the game was scored when Bridget McGuire found the back of the net with 6:50 left in the first period.
The second period was just as intense, starting off with two goals from Minnesota’s McGuire and Dora Harag. However, URI matched their intensity and came back to score two goals of their own, one of them being off a power play scored by junior forward Abbi Sampson.
Nevertheless, this matched intensity came with a price, with both team’s paying visits to the penalty box. First, Gillette was sent to the penalty box for cross checking. Then came three visitor penalties, including a team penalty for having too many players on the ice. This gave the Rams the advantage for a majority of the second period, but it wasn’t enough to break the second period tie at 4-4.
In the third period, four ties and three lead changes happened between the two teams. UMN’s Caitlyn Leising opened the scoring 18 seconds into the period to make it 5-4. Gillette quickly followed that up with a goal to tie it up at 5. McGuire completed her hat trick in the afternoon with a goal to make it 6-5 in favor of Minnesota.
It looked like the Golden Gophers would hold on to win in regulation after Ruby Moss and Kailee Hoff scored to make it 8-6 with 12:04 left in the third period, but thanks to some late-game heroics from Rego and Sampson, the Rams forced overtime.
The overtime period kicked off with a penalty from each team, with Minnesota’s Emily Rubins and URI’s Elizabeth Guthrie both sent to the box for tripping. Besides the penalties, the five minutes of overtime resulted with no goals from either team, which meant the game would be decided in a shootout.
The Golden Gophers only needed their first shot opportunity to secure the victory and they got it from Rubins on the team’s first attempt of the shootout. After finding success scoring in the three regulation periods and in overtime, the Rams went 0-for-3 and fell 1-0 in the shootout.
“I think we did some things well overall,” Rhode Island Women’s Hockey coach Ray Boudiette said. “Obviously on offense scoring eight goals is pretty good, but I think defensively we had some lapses; giving up eight is too many.”
The Rams return to the ice this weekend for a two-game series at UMass. The puck drops for Game 1 on Friday at 8:50 p.m.