Women’s hockey falls to UMB

In post season action, the Castleton women’s ice hockey team fell to UMass Boston by a score of 5-3 last Saturday, Feb. 23 at Spartan Arena.
Head Coach Bill Bowes and his squad had been preparing all season for this and were eager to put everything they learned to good use. They came out looking for that first goal, outshooting UMB 17-13. The Beacons’ freshman goalie kept her team in it though by stopping all of the Spartans’ shots.  
Despite the Spartans’ effort, they just couldn’t find the net. With 1:24 to play in the first period, a goal from UMB’s senior Emily LaRosa helped her team reach the scoreboard first.
UMass Boston scored two more quick goals in the second period to put the Spartans down by three.
With this, Bowes made the decision to pull his starting goalie, Paula Stephens and try freshman Jess Cameron in the net.
“I wanted to calm her [Stephens] down and let her refocus,” Bowes said. “I didn’t want to pull her out of the game completely.” Bowes went on to make 12 goalie switches in the second period.   
“Jess did a good job for us and shared the load,” he said. “I wanted to disorient the other team too which seemed to have helped since we climbed back in to tie it with three goals.”  
Sophomore Jessica Spidle started the Spartans’ three goal scoring streak. Later on in the second period, Brianna Narodowy and Anna Daniels both found the net to tie the game with just one period left to play.
The Spartans continued to shoot on the Beacons’ freshman goalkeeper, but weren’t able to make it past. With 7:11 left in the game, UMB scored to make it 4-3. With only a short 2:53 remaining, LaRosa scored again and put the Beacons up 5-3.
Despite the loss, Bowes was happy with his team’s efforts.
“It was disappointing to lose,” he said. “We wanted to win, we played to win. We played hard and played with a lot of heart, even when down three goals.”
Overall, Bowes said this was a terrific season with lots of improvements. With more tied games than usual, Bowes was happy with fewer losses and lots of good, close games. He was also proud of the success his team had.
Looking ahead to next season, Bowes said he and his coaching staff are “recruiting like maniacs.” He’s excited to see the new talent coming in and is impressed with the work the returners have put in this year.
The team will be missing six seniors next season including Jade Werger, Dani Roberts, Eileen Coyne, Christine Newton, Hanna Martini and Kat Dembowki.
“They were good players and terrific people with all their community service,” Bowes said. “They were fun to work with and I’ll miss them a lot.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous post CSC theatre department presents The Pillowman
Next post Big love in the big city