Alumni weekend and the inaugural Pink The Rink event for breast cancer awareness wasn’t enough to take away the sting that came with a pair of bitter losses for the Buffalo State women’s hockey team.
The Bengals fell twice at the hands of ECAC West foe Oswego over the weekend. Following a 7-0 shutout loss on Friday, Buffalo State saw an early lead disappear in a 3-1 loss to the Lakers on Saturday.
Oswego went on the attack early and never let up, dominating the Bengals in game one of the weekend series.
“It was fate,” head coach Rob Burke said regarding the loss on Friday night.
The Lakers scored just 29 seconds into the game on their first shot when senior Mackenzie Lee beat goaltender Jordan Lee to give Oswego a 1-0 lead for what would eventually turn out to be the game winner.
Oswego entered the first intermission up 3-0, and continued to pile it on in the second period, scoring four more to increase their lead to 7-0.
Lee was pulled after the fifth goal in favor of Jessica Garland, but Burke said adamantly that it was not a punishment.
“She really wasn’t that off her game,” he said. “It just wasn’t a night that was destined to be successful for her. Our team in front of our goalie didn’t play the best game of their lives.”
Burke said between games that perhaps Murphy’s Law had begun to take a toll on his team.
“It certainly felt that way last night,” he said, while also stating that he noticed his players getting down on themselves for the first time during the team’s six-game losing streak. “Last night was the first time I saw a chink in our armor. They weren’t the same team.”
After holding the Lakers scoreless in the third period of Friday’s loss, Buffalo State went into Saturday’s tilt on a small positive note. “We walked away with a little bit of a plus,” said Burke.
The Bengals executed their game plan through two period of play on Saturday, but a lapse in the early part of the third cost the team.
Buffalo State played much better than the previous night, jumping out to an early 1-0 when senior Brianna Murphy put a shot past Oswego goaltender Catherine Cote for her fourth goal of the year.
After a scoreless second period, the Lakers came out in the third and took advantage of a few mental lapses by the Bengals. In a 41-second span, Carly Henderson and Kelly Hollins scored for Oswego at the 1:33 and 2:14 marks to give Oswego a lead they would not relinquish.
“We kind of played as if we already won,” said Murphy. “They skated better than us in the third period.”
While hesitant to concede the season may be coming to an end for the Bengals, Murphy acknowledged that it seems everything that can go wrong, is going wrong for the team right now.
“Not necessarily, but kind of. Pretty much all the goals that were scored this weekend weren’t quality goals,” Murphy said.
“We knew (Oswego) was going to come out strong throwing the kitchen sink at us,” said Burke about the start of the third period. “I told the girls they were going to come out storming, and we came out flat-footed. Those first few minutes, we were flat as hell. It was youth hockey play.”
Chelsey Draker would add another goal with just under three minutes to play to seal the deal for the Lakers.
Lee, who made 24 saves in a losing effort, kept the Bengals in the game. She made a number of big saves to hold Oswego off the board early, including a two-on-none save that seemed to give the Bengals momentum just before they took the lead.
“We were very close,” said Lee, “So if I make a save or someone scores, the momentum shifts to us.”
In desperate need of a win, the Bengals are set to travel to Elmira to face the second-place Soaring Eagles on Friday and Saturday.
Buffalo State is 1-25 all-time against Elmira and, with just six games left and the Bengals currently out of a playoff spot, the team has a lot of work to do.
“We need to play like we did in the first and second (periods),” said Lee.
“We have to want it more,” added Murphy.
Mike Straw can be reached by email at staw.record@live.com.