The women’s hockey team is heading into the break this week, but before they do, let’s recap the last few contests. They hit the road for Boston at the end of the month, where they faced conference opponent the Beacons. In their game Friday, that top line of junior forwards for the girls of Moa Carlsson, Meg Aiken, and Ellie Schliebener found their touch early in this one. Late in the first, Umass Boston was able to find an answer and bring the game back to even. The second period started with a goal from Tori Griffin, 20 seconds into the period unassisted. After the quick start, both teams took a couple of penalties and the special teams had to battle it out. Again towards the end of the period, Umass Boston was able to keep the game alive. The third period proved to be a complete defensive battle as the game stayed even. However, with just under a minute left in regulation, a Umass player made a spectacular rush dancing by two Castleton defenders and scoring on Freshman netminder Gianna McCusker. Despite the loss, McCusker made 28 saves and showed to be capable of taking some of the workload off of starting goalie for the Spartans, Victoria Bakopanos.

The second match-up took place the following day, in which the Spartans had a strong start, outshooting UMass 10-3 in the first period. The second period began to get a little chippy, and we saw both sides taking time to sit down in the penalty box. Unfortunately for Spartan fans, assistant captain Meg Aiken took a big hit into the boards head-first in the second period and had to be stretchered off the ice. She would be ok, but a big loss up front for the Spartans. UMass would go on to score late in the second, and again early in the third, and freshman forward Carris Errickson would have the only answer which would not be enough to earn important conference points.

Next on the agenda for the women was number 3 ranked Middlebury. This matchup is one that is year in and year out difficult. However, the Spartans usually embrace the challenge. Again on the road, Bakopanos started between the pipes for the Spartans. Bakopanos made 56 saves in this matchup and gave up 5 goals against, maintaining a .918 save percentage. Despite her stellar performance in the net, the Spartans fell 5-0 as they could not generate very much of their own offense.

Playing in the NESCAC conference again, the women then traveled to take on Williams. Bakopanos had the net again for this one, which is her seventh start this year and perhaps her biggest to date in a spartan jersey. Again, they  were held scoreless in this one and eventually fell 4-0. But, Bakopanos did everything in her power to keep it even, making 63 saves to break a program record for most stops in a single game. Bakopanos had now made 119 saves in her last two starts. She goes into the break with a 2.75 GAA and a .923 save percentage, a very strong campaign so far for her.

Lastly was Worcester State, which was a matchup they  needed to take over in. And so they did. Junior Defenseman Rainey Lay started off the scoring and from there the offense took off. Ellie Schliebener set up Moa Carlsson for the second of the game, who the team looks to for scoring. Sophomore Taylor Adams recorded her first career hat trick in this one, starting with a snipe on the power play. Rachel McNeil got in on the action, and tucked home a power play goal as well. And finally, we saw this offence explode a little in this one. Which we will hope to see more of in the new year. The girls will be back in action early January at home for their annual tournament, so make sure to keep and eye out.