The women’s hockey team (5-18-4, 5-12-3 Eastern College Athletic Conference) tied St. Lawrence University (14-11-6, 10-6-3 ECAC) 1-1 at home Friday night. The following day, the Bears lost 8-1 to the No. 9/10 Clarkson University team (22-7-3, 13-6-1 ECAC) in their final home game of the season.
Brown 1, SLU 1
Following a scoreless opening period, Brown amped up the offensive pressure, outshooting St. Lawrence 17-12 in the second period. Brown took a 1-0 lead late in the second when Anna Hurd ’25 scored her sixth goal of the season. Maya Mangiafico ’24 attacked the offensive zone along the boards and passed to Hurd in the low slot, tallying the assist on the Bears’ only goal of the game.
Brown kept the 1-0 lead until late in the final period when St. Lawrence pulled their goaltender, adding a sixth offensive player. Leveraging the offensive advantage, the Saints’ Abby Hustler scored on a slapshot from the blue line with 33 seconds remaining, tying the game and forcing overtime.
The Bears controlled the tempo throughout the 3-on-3 overtime, but St. Lawrence goaltender Lucy Morgan, who leads the ECAC in save percentage, continued her strong defensive season. Overtime ended in a stalemate with a final score of 1-1.
The draw is an improvement for the Bears from the last matchup against the Saints when St. Lawrence prevailed by a score of 2-1 in New York.
The women’s hockey team has earned a better record at home (4-10-2) than on the road (1-8-2). “There’s a comfort level in being” in Meehan Auditorium, Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi said.
Brown’s goaltender Kaley Doyle ’24, who made 27 saves in the tie, attributed the team’s success at home to the fans and the environment. “We have a lot of people here supporting us and I think that motivates us to win,” Doyle said.
This game marked the third time Brown played in overtime this season, with all three games ending in a tie. From a defensive standpoint, the Bears have been impenetrable during 3-on-3 — they have yet to allow a goal in overtime this season.
“I think our team doesn’t give up many chances during 3-on-3,” Doyle said. “We really dominated that whole entire overtime … We do what we need to do to get good chances; we’ve just got to pounce on them when we get them.”
Offensively, the Bears have struggled to score late in close games. “For us, the biggest thing is increasing that confidence because we know we have the offensive power to do it. We know we can fight with all these top-10 teams,” Hurd said. “It’s really just about finding the back of the net and getting gritty.”
Brown 1, Clarkson 8
The Bears took an early 1-0 lead just four and a half minutes into the first period on a goal scored by Megan Forrest GS. Cameron Sikich ’25 passed the puck along the boards to Anna Gallagher ’24, who penetrated the zone and fed Forrest in the slot for the open shot.
Clarkson responded with a goal of their own just over a minute later. The first period ended with three more unanswered Golden Knight goals. Clarkson’s scoring torrent continued in the second period with goals at the beginning and end of the middle frame. The Golden Knights added two more goals late in the final period, totaling eight on the match— the most Brown’s defense has allowed this season.
Brown had won five of their six games prior to the matchup against Clarkson, displaying a marked improvement from their winless first seven games of the season. “The score was not an indication of the way the team played,” Ruzzi said.
Saturday was the team’s Senior Day. Due to the cancellation of the 2020-21 season, the team also invited the class of 2021 to return to Meehan Auditorium to join in the celebration.
Forrest, who was a member of the class of 2021, scored her fifth goal of the season surrounded by her former classmates on the day dedicated to honoring her contributions to the program.
“Being a Brown student, your class is everything,” Ruzzi said. “Forrest scored a really beautiful goal.”
The Bears will be on the road for their final two games of the regular season against Princeton Friday and Quinnipiac Saturday.
