The Buffalo State women’s ice hockey team entered the weekend hoping to avenge Neumann’s season sweep, but instead saw the Knights skate away from the Ice Arena with four points.
Buffalo State (2-3-1) scored a goal in the final minutes to force a 2-2 tie on Saturday. Neumann (1-1-2) outlasted the Bengals in a 2-1 overtime loss on Sunday to conclude the conference matchup.
Head coach Rob Burke said the team’s goal was to come away from the weekend with at least three points, but was less than satisfied when the Bengals earned only one.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow,” he said. “Coming in we thought we matched up really well against them. We were the better team this weekend.”
Each team got off to a slow start during Saturday’s game. After a scoreless first period, Neumann scored with just over five minutes to play in the second to take a 1-0 lead before senior Christine Williams put the Bengals on the board with her fourth goal of the season on the power play.
Neumann regained the lead early in the third period that set the stage for the Bengals’ dramatic finish.
Following a late hooking call on junior Lauren Mallo, the Bengals were forced to kill off a penalty with just over three minutes left to play. After returning to full strength, senior Leah Knott hammered home a rebound during a scrum in front of the net, tying the game with one second left on the clock.
Neumann outshot the Bengals 3-2 in the overtime period but neither team managed to net a game winner. Sophomore goalie Jordan Lee made 21 saves and the Bengals killed off seven of eight Neumann power plays.
“It was a real exciting game for us,” said Knott, who was named the game’s first star. “We were all so happy we tied it up that it almost felt like we won. It was a great team goal.”
The Bengals carried their momentum into Sunday and played what Burke called “their best game of the year so far,” but failed to overcome the outstanding play of Neumann goalie Shannon Donnelly, who made 31 saves.
Neumann kicked off the scoring halfway through the first period, but the Bengals responded just 39 seconds later on the power play when sophomore Mel White scored her first collegiate goal to tie the game at one.
Although the Bengals outshot Neumann 12-7 in third-period, neither team scored again in regulation. Just 3:07 into the overtime period, Neumann’s Kayla Dubowski scored her second goal of the game to secure the victory for the Knights.
Lee stopped 20 of 22 shots in the game and Williams’ three-goal scoring streak was snapped as she failed to register a point in the loss.
“It was just one of those games where the goalie has a great game and starts getting into your head a little,” said senior Bri Murphy who also failed to make the score sheet over the weekend. “We played a great game and their goalie just stole it from us.”
Despite only coming away with one point from the two games, Burke said he continues to notice improvement in key areas such as special teams. Since starting the season 0 for 13 on the power play, the Bengals are among the conference leaders in special teams, and are 5 for 20 (25 percent) with the man advantage and 18 of 20 (90 percent) on the penalty kill over their last four games.
The loss drops the Bengals to sixth place in the ECAC West. They’ll prepare to host another conference opponent when last-place Chatham University visits the Ice Arena this weekend. The Cougars are coming off of consecutive blowout losses to Plattsburgh.
Despite losing by a combined score of 17-1 to the ECAC powerhouse, Murphy noted the Bengals shouldn’t take Chatham lightly.
“You never want to assume you’ll win,” she said, “because that’s when you usually lose.”
Burke agreed, but said he looks towards the games against Chatham as a way to show Plattsburgh they’re going to be tough to beat when the Cardinals come to town.
“Chatham is a team you have to put away at home,” he said. “If we can win both our games this weekend, hopefully Plattsburgh sees that we’re better than the team they just beat. We won’t be taken lightly.”
* Correction: Women’s hockey coach Rob Burke was misquoted in the Nov. 2 issue that states the program has never made the playoffs. The Bengals have in fact qualified for the ECAC playoffs four times.
Brandon Schlager can be reached by email at schlager.record@live.com.