At Schneider Arena in Providence on Friday and Saturday, the Maine Black Bears women’s ice hockey team opened up conference play with two games against the Friars.
On Friday afternoon- Sarah Davies scored with 37 seconds left in overtime to give Providence College the win in the series opener 3-2.
Maine trailed twice in the contest, but got goals from Frederikke Foss and Lily Fetch respectively in the first and second period that eventually sent the contest to overtime. Black Bears goaltender Kiia Lahtinen was fantastic in net once again to keep her team in the game, making several Grade A saves and stopped three breakaways in the middle period alone. With Maine pressing in the 3 on 3 extra session, Providence got control of the puck in their defensive zone and Jesse Pellerin saw Davies streaking behind the defense. Davies went in alone and beat Lahtinen five-hole to end it. Isabelle Michaud, Danielle Brunette, Ali Altiman, and Ava Stevenson each added an assist for the Black Bears. Lahtinen ended up with 30 saves. Maine went 0-1 on the powerplay.
On Saturday afternoon- Foss scored her second goal of the weekend for the Black Bears and helped her team pick up their first point in Hockey East with a 1-1 tie against the Friars.
Providence got a goal from Reichen Kirchmair 32 seconds into the second period, before Foss answered for Maine 34 seconds later. Altiman and Brunette picked up an assist each on the marker by Foss. The Friars (3-6-1, 1-2-1 in Hockey East) gained the extra league point by winning a shootout. Lahtinen made 22 saves, and the Black Bears went 0-5 on the powerplay (now 0-25 on the season). Maines record now stands at 2-6-1 and 0-1-1 in conference play. The Black Bears return home to host Boston University next weekend with games at 3 p.m. Friday and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Featured photo of Frederikke Foss (#18) courtesy of UMaine Athletics
