Mayor Jorge Elorza awarded Providence College a trophy after the women’s ice hockey team fell to the Friars in a battle for the 21st Annual Mayor’s Cup Saturday afternoon at Schneider Arena.
Last year, the Bears (2-8-0, 0-4-0 ECAC) managed to eke out a narrow 2-1 win over the Friars (4-10-0, 3-5-0) to claim the 20th Annual Mayor’s Cup. While the Bears led the series 10-7-3 going into the weekend, the squad made sure not to overlook the Friars.
Bruno took to the ice with an active offense that generated several chances to score. After Maddie Woo ’17 secured her own rebound, her shot seemed to be the Bears’ best attempt to get on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for Bruno, Woo could not convert after the puck missed the back off the net and hit the pipe instead.
Moments after Woo’s attempt, the Friars managed to get the puck around Bruno’s defense and beat goalie Monica Elvin ’17 to open the scoring.
While both squads took many shots on goal in the first and second periods, most of the game’s goals were scored in the third frame. The Friars scored four of their six goals, and Sam Donovan ’18 notched the Bears’ only goal in the final minutes of the contest.
While power play opportunities proved crucial to the Bears’ victory last weekend, the team struggled to capitalize on its advantages against the Friars. Bruno did not score on any of its four power plays in the second period.
On the other hand, the Friars seemed to have better luck converting their player advantage to goals. Providence’s Cassidy Carels recorded the only goal of the second frame off a power play to give the host a 2-0 lead. But the Bears killed the Friars’ other three power-play opportunities of the stanza.
Shortly after the second intermission, the Friars scored another power-play goal. Afterward, both teams’ offenses remained relatively quiet for another eight minutes until a pass from Bridget Carey ’19 found Donovan in front of the net for Bruno’s lone tally. Erin Conway ’17 also recorded an assist on the play.
Donovan’s goal was followed by an onslaught of shots and ultimately goals for the Friars.
With three minutes left in the contest, the Bears pulled Elvin out of the net for a two-player advantage on the ice after the Friars were called for a penalty. Bruno was once again unable to capitalize on the power play opportunity, but seconds after returning a player to the ice, Providence managed to score an empty net goal to take the score to 5-1.
Elvin returned after the goal, but with just under 15 seconds left in the contest, the Friars posted another goal to take the game to its final score.
The Bears will continue their stretch on the road next weekend with a pair of contests against ECAC rivals Union and Rensselaer.
