The women’s hockey team was able to bounce back early in the second period from a rough start to Tuesday night’s game against Providence College but could not maintain its momentum through the rest of the game.
The Bulldogs (0-5-0), lost 3-9 to the Friars (2-6-2) of the Hockey East conference. The results of the non-conference game will not affect Yale’s standing in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
“These weren’t the results we wanted,” head coach Joakim Flygh said. “We weren’t ready at the start and we gave [Providence] some easy goals.”
The action of the game started early in the first period. The Friars scored their first goal at only 3:24 into the game, and the Bulldogs responded quickly when forward Danielle Moncion ’13 scored at 5:13. But back-to-back Providence goals against net minder Jaimie Leonoff ’15 at 5:50 and 7:00 pushed Yale down to 1-3 and saw senior goalie Genny Ladiges ’12 take to the net.
The Bulldogs pulled themselves back at 14:53 with a power play goal by Jackie Raines ’14, bringing them into the second period down 2-3.
An early goal in the second period by forward Ashley Dunbar ’14 tied the scoreboard, giving hope to the Blue and White, but that was the team’s last goal of the game.
“We did well in the first period getting shots on net and testing the goalie, but we did not maintain our momentum in the second and third,” forward Stephanie Mock ’15 said.
Providence scored at 6:50, 13:31 and 17:21 in the second period, and Yale could not take advantage of two overlapped mid-period power plays.
“I thought we’d gain momentum, especially with that five-on-three power play,” Flygh said. “But we didn’t gain energy and it was hard to come back.”
The Friars scored even–strength goals at 5:44 and 15:39 in the third period, as well as a short handed-goal 9:52, leaving the Bulldogs six points behind.
Both Flygh and Mock stressed that the team needs to improve defensively.
“We were frazzled in the defensive zone, and we must focus on that for the rest of the season,” Mock said. Flygh added that the team needs to help out the goaltenders more.
After losing five games in a row, forward Paige Decker ’14 said that the team is “at a loss” as to the cause of the sequential defeats. But she added the team will try to work on what iswithin its control to ready itself for upcoming games.
The Bulldogs will continue their series of away games this weekend, taking on Quinnipiac on Friday and Princeton on Saturday in conference games.