Women’s hockey began their season with a three-game road trip, with games played on two consecutive weekends against Suffolk University, New England College and Norwich University. The Beacons won their first game of the year, and while there were some ups and downs for the team throughout the game, such as problems with penalties and getting shots on goal, the Beacons pulled through.
Fast forward to the following week, and there was the good, the bad and the ugly for the Beacons. Some good that came out of the weekend: The Beacons escaped the road trip with a 2–1 record, and the Beacons looked sharp offensively against the Pilgrims (1). The bad: Well, it was the ugly. Women’s hockey lost to Norwich by a score of 10–0. Their struggle to get out of the penalty box continued, and despite their 2–1 record, the Beacons were outscored 12–5 in their first three games (2).
On top of playing shorthanded for a considerable amount of time, their inconsistencies in their offensive attack—which date back to their win over Suffolk—crept up once again, and the team hopes to improve their game plan as the season moves forward. In their game against New England, the Beacons showed glimpses of how great they can be for their 2022–23 campaign. The team showcased their ability to play from behind when they scored three unanswered goals against the Pilgrims in their 3–1 victory, after trailing 1–0 after 20 minutes of play.
Freshman forward, Emily Hansen, potted her first collegiate goal to get the Beacons on the board a few minutes into the second period, and the team never looked back. Sophomore defender, Margeaux Butters, scored the second goal for UMass Boston off a redirected pass from freshman, Adrianna Crepaldi, and sophomore forward, Allie Reifler, netted her first goal of the season off a feed from forward, Liz Kramp. Hansen also assisted on Reifler’s goal to end the game with two points, and Butters assisted on Hansen’s goal to end up with the same statline of one goal and one assist (3).
The Beacons also found out they have another brick wall for a goalie alongside Victoria Kennedy. Freshman netminder, Leah Bosch, made her collegiate debut and stopped 22 of 23 shots for a .957 save percentage to take home her first victory as a Beacon. On the stat sheet, the Beacons led in most categories, outshooting New England 40–23 and winning the faceoff battle 35–32. However, the defense gave up the first power play goal of the season, and the Beacons’ lack of discipline in reference to penalties translated from their game against the Rams the week prior, after they committed six of them over the 60 minutes of play (1).
Going into their game against the 11th ranked Norwich Cadets, the Beacons hoped to have better discipline and come out on top to remain undefeated in the season. However, room for improvement in all phases of the game is necessary after the loss they took to Norwich. The Beacons put up a dismal eight shots on goal, which, ironically enough, also equated to the amount of penalties they committed (4).
As noted before, the team cannot only rely on defense and goaltending to win games. Committing an abundance of penalties will only prove costly as the season progresses, and from the looks of it, the Beacons have a huge problem on their hands that they must emphasize to fix.
A single player was held accountable for Norwich’s three penalties that gave the Beacons the powerplay for six minutes, whereas the Beacons had six different players commit a total of eight penalties (5). Over the course of three games, women’s hockey committed 19 minor penalties compared to their opponents 10, that’s nearly two periods worth of 5-on-4 play (6). The offense cannot come alive if the Beacons have to rely on the defense to stay in the game and miraculously score shorthanded goals. Their 10-goal loss was a result of not being able to generate offense, instead having to play a defensive heavy game that relied too heavily on clearing pucks out of Norwich’s attacking zone. Doing that while down a player makes it even more difficult than it already is, and the Beacons learned that the hard way.
Playing nearly a full period worth of shorthanded hockey really stretched the ice for Norwich on the power play, so much so that three of their goals were scored with the advantage (5). For the Beacons, a huge point of emphasis moving forward is to regulate the amount of penalties, whether it be through drills, simulated practice or other techniques.
They showed in their previous two games that they have more than enough talent to score goals on limited shots and come up huge, defensively, in both even strength and on the penalty kill. Once the Beacons get their act in order and utilize the strategy of attacking the net, all the while keeping the penalties to a minimum, then everyone will soon realize that, truly, the game against Norwich was a fluke.
The Beacons will be back on the road this Friday and Saturday for a weekend trip to New York; they play Elmira College on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m., and William Smith College at 3 p.m. the following day (6). Best of luck to the Beacons on their second road trip of the season!