The University of Maine was looking to break a four-game losing streak as they welcomed in the University of Vermont for a two game women’s Hockey East series at Alfond Arena in Orono on Friday and Saturday afternoon.
On Friday- Maine came out flying from the drop the puck, and snapped their losing streak with a 5-1 win over Vermont. They outshot the Catamounts 29-6 (16-3 on net) in the opening 20 minutes. The Black Bears were rewarded when Lily Fetch was the beneficiary of a nice pass from Ava Stevenson on a 2 on 1 down low, slamming it into the back of the net to make it 1-0 at the 12 minute mark.
Maine took advantage of a five-minute major penalty called on Vermont with 1:04 left in the first period, and Kendall Sundby converted with the game winning powerplay goal 31 seconds into the second. Stevenson, Reagan Wurm, and Lila Shea had the other Black Bear goals. Kiia Lahtinen made 17 saves in the victory in net. The freshman Lahtinen from Finland has now played the last five games consecutively in place of injured sophomore starter Julia Bachetti. Fetch and Stevenson each had a goal and two assists, while Shea chipped in with one goal and one assist. Cecilia DesLauriers had the goal for the Catamounts, and Jane Gervais stopped 35 shots in the cage as the final shots on goal were 40-18 in favor of Maine.
On Saturday- Grace Nelles had both goals, as Vermont salvaged the weekend split with a 2-1 win. Maine didn’t take long to put up their only tally of the afternoon, as Mikayla Boarder scored 24 seconds into the first period. Nelles tied it on the powerplay for the Catamounts at 3:12, and then scored the game winner 11:23 into the second.
Stephanie Jacob and Sam Morrison assisted on the Boarder goal for Maine in the loss. Lahtinen made 24 saves. Gervais had 16 stops for Vermont, and Ashley Kokavec chipped in two assists as the Catamounts record goes to 3-7 and 2-4 in Hockey East. Maine (2-8, 2-4) will host Boston College next Friday and Saturday night at 6 p.m.
