This past weekend, women’s hockey (6-5-1, 4-5-1 ECAC) took on ranked opponents No. 6 Clarkson (12-3-1, 5-1-0 ECAC) and No. 9 St. Lawrence (9-5-4, 3-1-2 ECAC). Though the Bears have slowed down since their strong start to the season, the team managed to gain some points in the ECAC standings at home, tieing St. Lawrence 1-1 after losing Friday’s match to Clarkson 4-1.
“That’s 1.5 points in our league, which is always exciting,” Jade Iginla ’26 said after Saturday’s game against St. Lawrence.
Friday’s game against Clarkson started slowly for both teams. Neither squad was able to find an opening goal in the first period, but the Golden Knights’ offensive pressure was building. Outshooting the Bears 15-4 across the period, Clarkson was already pulling ahead on the stat sheet.
Despite only outshooting the Bears 13-6 in the second period, Clarkson was far more clinical with their opportunities. With less than two minutes elapsed in the period, the Golden Knights finally broke through, scoring the opening goal.
Just under three minutes later, Iginla was called on a highsticking penalty, putting Clarkson on the power play. The advantage would result in the second Golden Knight goal of the period and game.
At the conclusion of the period, Bruno got their own power play and took advantage. The goal — assisted by Monique Lyons ’28 and Victoria Damiani ’28 — came off the stick of Ava DeCoste ’27 to close out the second period. Only down 2-1, the Bears looked to the third for a potential comeback.
The final period was Clarkson’s most dominant. They shot 19 times, scored twice and viciously rejected the Bruno comeback effort.
Friday marked Bruno’s fifth straight loss. After going undefeated through the first six games of their season, the pressure was mounting on Saturday’s match as the Bears looked to win some points in the standings off the Saints.
Just as in the contest against Clarkson, the first period started slowly for Bruno. They played fast, counterattacking hockey as they tried to get on the breakaway against the Saints, but they were unable to score early in the game.
The Bears came to life in the second period. They outshot the Saints across the last two periods of regulation 24-13 and looked the better of the two teams. Despite Bruno creating more chances for themselves, St. Lawrence kept the Meehan crowd uneasy, striking the bar of the Brown goal five times during the match.
Though the pressure mounted at times, Goalie Anya Zupkofska ’28 — who only needed to make 26 saves — had “faith in (her) team to block the shots and move bodies out of the way.”
After the Bears took six unanswered shots on the Saints’ goal, disaster struck. St. Lawrence pulled ahead, opening the scoring and taking a 1-0 lead.
Before the audience could catch their breath, Iginla was found by passes from DeCoste and India McDadi ’26 and fired her shot from long range. Slotting itself in the side of the goal, Iginla’s third goal of the season tied the match.
The third period was mostly tame until Cameron Sikich ’25 and a Saints player had a coming-together that resulted in penalties for both players. With new gaps in both teams’ defenses, the game opened up with back-and-forth, breathtaking hockey that engrossed the crowd. But two minutes, six shots and zero goals later, the game slowed back down.
A late power play for Bruno yielded no goal and the game went to a sudden-death overtime.
The 3-on-3 overtime was intense, with both sides creating opportunities, but Zupkofska rose to the challenge, making seven saves in the final period. The match then closed tied and the points were split between the two teams.
In the overtime shoot-out, then, only pride was on the line. Both keepers kept out the first shots, but Zupkofska was unable to keep out the second.
“I said to myself, just stay on angles,” she said, noting her faith in her teammates’ ability to translate the shoot-outs they had practiced to a high-pressure situation.
DeCoste stepped up, sinking her attempt to level the shootout. Then, after the Saints netted another, Margot Norehad ’27 stepped up, returning the favor and celebrating in front of the jeering St. Lawrence bench.
Neither team converted another penalty attempt until the Saints took the lead with their sixth attempt. Bruno was unable to answer and lost the shootout. Despite this, the game is officially considered a tie.
“I think we have a lot of work to do as the season goes on, and obviously you don’t want to get too excited too early, but we are very excited about our group and what we can accomplish as the year goes on,” Iginla said.
The Bears will play against Providence College next Saturday, Nov. 30 on the Friars’ home rink. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Dennis Carey is a Sports editor who enjoys playing volleyball, listening to and collecting vinyl records and poorly playing the guitar in his spare time.
