On Saturday, the women’s ice hockey team (14-10-3, 9-8-3 ECAC) celebrated their seniors with a decisive 3-0 victory over Dartmouth (4-19-3, 2-15-3 ECAC) at the Meehan Auditorium. Just one day earlier, the Bears defeated Harvard (2-22-2, 1-18-1 ECAC) 3-1.
Following senior night, Bruno now ranks eighth in the ECAC standings with two more games left to play in the regular season.
Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi noted that this year’s seniors — the first class she has coached through all four years — have a special place in her heart.
“They each bring something different to the table,” she said in an interview with The Herald. “They’ve carried our culture forward, they’ve been great leaders and just great people.”
The Bears came out hot against Dartmouth. Just under three minutes into the game, Avery Saba ’28 capitalized on a deflected shot, ripping a close-ranger past the Big Green netminder. The goal exemplified one of Ruzzi’s primary goals for the game: screening Dartmouth’s star goalie.
But Brown was not satisfied with one goal. They relentlessly pressured the Big Green with marked physicality on the ice. Though Dartmouth had their chances, Bruno’s lockdown defense and impressive saves by goalie Rory Edwards ’27 kept the score 1-0.
It was only a matter of time before the Bears netted their second. Ten minutes after Brown’s first score, Jade Iginla ’26 rocketed a long pass across the ice to Margot Norehad ’27. A Dartmouth defender missed when trying to intercept the pass, and Norehad cruised down the right alley untouched to finish a smooth shot behind the Dartmouth goalie.
The team’s focus was on “boxing out, taking care of our D-zone and working hard in our O-zone,” Norehad said.
With 18 seconds left in the first period, Bruno put on yet another display of teamwork. Relying on her teammates Olivia Fantino ’28 and India McDadi ’26, Norehad found an empty spot in front of the goal. The trio’s tic-tac-toe passing confused Dartmouth’s defense, and Norehad netted her second score of the game and eleventh of the season.
The first period ended with a score of 3-0, with Bruno’s 13 shots dominating Dartmouth’s five.
Though there was considerable pressure on the team to beat their ECAC foe on senior day, Ruzzi emphasized the importance of staying in the moment.
“We’ve had to just really focus on one game at a time,” Ruzzi said, adding that each team is “just the next opponent.”
For the remainder of the game, Edwards continued to shine, saving everything coming her way. Despite a few dangerously close shots by the Big Green, the defense remained firm.
But about halfway into the second period, Dartmouth almost found their first goal of the game. Edwards lost sight of the puck in front of the net, and a dogpile of bodies formed on the line as both teams scrambled for the puck. Bruno was able to fend off the encounter, and the Big Green remained scoreless.
As the two teams battled it out in the last period, Edwards was the star of the show. The Big Green took 21 shots on goal, but Edwards and her defense would not give in.
About halfway into the period, Edwards made a clutch save on a Dartmouth player who had maneuvered around defenders and was sweeping across the front side of the goal. Cameron Sikich ’25 laid a huge hit in center ice shortly after which put the cherry on top.
Bruno fended off Dartmouth’s desperate efforts to close out the game with a final score of 3-0. Edwards was named an ECAC Star of the Night for her 26 saves in the shutout.
The game was followed by a senior day celebration where the class of 2025 were joined by their families.
Winning the game on senior day was “really exciting,” Sikich said. “We haven’t actually won a senior game in all of my four years, so it’s really nice.”
The team hopes to carry this momentum into their Friday away matchup against Cornell, who currently leads the ECAC standings. This game, Ruzzi said, is “a big one.”
