Game of the Week: Women’s Ice Hockey Nets First Win of Year
The women’s ice hockey team registered its first win of the season last Friday with a 3-1 victory over Plymouth State University and then notched a 2-2 overtime tie with Castleton State College on Saturday. Defensewoman Stephanie V. Brenman ’09 and forward Lauren A. Kazmierski ’11 each tallied three points during the road trip as the team improved its record to 1-15-2 overall and 1-14-2 within the Eastern College Athletic Conference East division. Plymouth State fell to 0-17-1 (0-15-1) and Castleton State moved to 5-13-4 (4-9-4).
MIT opened the scoring against Plymouth State 2:20 into the game when Brenman connected on a pass from Kazmierski for a power-play goal. Exactly 57 seconds later, Barbara J. McCarragher ’10 set up Sara E. John ’09 for what proved to be the game-winning goal. The game continued as a defensive struggle until the Panthers cut the deficit in half with a goal with 6:46 remaining in the second period. Both sides played well in the third period, notching nine shots each, before Brenman sealed the win with an empty-net goal with four seconds left to play. In net, Rachel A. Bowens-Rubin ’11 collected 15 saves for the first win of her career.
Against Castleton State, the Kazmierski-Brenman connection returned as MIT took the lead 9:04 into the game. The Spartans dominated the second period though, out-shooting the Engineers 22-4 and scoring two goals to take the lead, 2-1. The Engineers put pressure on Castleton State during the final period of regulation, and eventually broke through when Kazmierski set up John for the game-tying power-play goal with only 30 seconds left.
In overtime, Castleton State recorded a 10-2 advantage in shots but Bowens-Rubin denied every attempt, finishing the game with 46 saves.
After her great performances over the weekend, Bowens-Rubin was named the ECAC East Goalie of the Week. In all, she recorded 61 saves, a .953 save percentage, and a goals against average of 1.44. In addition, Kazmierski was selected for the ECAC Honor Roll.
The team wraps up their regular season with two games against Salve Regina University tonight at home and tomorrow away, both at 7 p.m.