Men’s Hockey 0-2 (0-2 ECAC East) - By Jon Mael
The guys opened their season Nov. 4 against storied St. Anselm College at the Clark Athletic Center. They had plenty of chances in the season opening slugfest, but had trouble putting it all together in front of a capacity crowd. “It was awesome, I think, when the boys looked upstairs and saw all the fans, it’s great,” Coach Peter Belisle said. “I thought we really outplayed them at the end, too, and just couldn’t find a way to put it in.”
The first period was filled with monster hits and penalties. Travis Daniel had the best chance for the Beacons on a fast break at 15:55, but Hawks goalie Robert Kang managed to stuff the puck with the left pad. The Hawks struck first when Kevin Vanous snuck in a wrister from 10 feet away by Kevin Bendel, Jr., leaving them with the 1-0 lead after 1.
The vicious hits and testiness continued in the second period. About the team’s physicality, Belisle said, “That’s our bread and butter, we’re a physical team. Our senior group [is] just hard working and resilient, and they’re strong.”
Although the Beacons had two power play chances, they couldn’t capitalize, bringing them to a dismal 0-5 for the game, they would go on to finish at 0-6.
“I thought we had some pretty good looks,” Belisle said. “Our first three power plays were very poor, [but] we did get better on the next three, so that’s something to build on.” Bendel came up huge multiple times, including snatching a Tim King drive from midair with 12 seconds to go in the period to leave the deficit at 1-0 heading into the third.
The Beacons finally broke through at 1:10 in the third, when freshman Corey Chakeen scored in a scrum in front of Kang to even the score at 1. When asked about what that goal will do for Chakeen, Belisle said, “I think it’s huge. We need him to score goals. He is the guy we thought would be our top freshman scorer, and go figure he gets one.”
Vanous scored the winning goal for the Hawks at 10:32 on a play eerily similar to his first goal, in which he shot from around 10 feet directly in front of Bendel. The Hawks managed to sneak out with the win, 2-1, but there were many bright spots for the Beacons to build upon going forward.
Womens Soccer 13-6-2 (3-3-1 LEAC) – By David Walberg
With history looking as if though it were going to repeat itself, the Beacons run for a conference title came to an end on the evening of Nov. 4, as the number one seed Keene State College Owls (14-7-0) edged the fourth-seeded Beacons (13-7-1) 3-1 in penalty kicks in the semi-final round of the Little East Conference.
Netting the lone and at the time go-ahead goal for the Beacons was freshman standout Krista Ledin in the 31st minute. The goal, her 20th of the season, tied the single-season scoring record at UMB.
UMB maintained their lead through the remainder of the first half, and 12 minutes into the second. Keene tied the game at 1-1 on an Erin Griffin goal, which was assisted by Jessica Berthiaume.
After the end of regulation, Keene combined for five shots in the two 10-minute overtime periods. UMB tallied just one shot in OT.
In the penalty kick round, both teams missed their first shots. UMB, who shot first, saw Sam Cristoforo make her chance to take a 1-0 lead. Keene was unable to convert on their second opportunity, giving UMB some hope. However, back-to-back misses by the Beacons and three straight goals by Keene secured the Owls victory.
Women’s soccer will now wait to see if they could receive an at-large bid to either the NCAA tournament or ECAC New England regional tournament.
Freshman forward Krista Ledin.