ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's ice hockey team came up short in a 4-2 decision against Quinnipiac Friday evening. The loss drops Maine back to 2-3-0 on the season while the Bobcats remain undefeated at 5-0-0. The Black Bears were led by Brittany Dougherty (Chesterfield, Mich.) and Jennie Gallo (Castlegar, British Columbia) who each notched a goal for Maine.
The Bobcats kicked off the scoring with a power play goal 4:06 into the first period by Regan Boulton. Quinnipiac would win the face-off and slide the puck back to the blue line to Bethany Dymarczyk. Dymarczyk would send a pass across the blue line to Kelly Babstock. Babstock skated in and hit Boulton with a pass. Boulton would then beat Maine goaltender Candice Currier, (Goffstown, N.H.) giving Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead
The Black Bears would fight back and tie the score, 9:50 into the first period when Dougherty notched her fourth score of the season. The play was setup along the side boards when Danielle Ward (Lansing, Mich.) faught for the puck and sent a pass back to Melissa Gagnon (St. Gilles, Quebec) at the blue line. Gagnon sent the puck back along the boards where Dougherty gathered it, turned and fired a wrist shot that snuck by Bobcats goaltender Victoria Vigilanti.
Quinnipiac would add a pair of power play goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. The Bobcats second goal came when Babstock worked the puck around the Maine zone to Erica Uden Johansson. Johansson would slide the puck across the blue line to Boulton who ripped a slap shot into the back of the Maine net.
Boulton would pick up her hat trick goal 18:32 into the second period, and also the third power play goal for Quinnipiac. Dymarczyk and Kate Wheeler assisted on the goal for the Bobcats.
The Black Bears would cut the Quinnipiac lead to 3-2 on some beautiful puck movement while on the power play, 1:31 into the third period. Myriam Croussette (Bair-Comeau, Quebec) sent a pass down into the right circle to Dominique Goutsis (Coquitlam, British Columbia). Goutsis gathered the puck and sent a quick pass through the middle to a wide open Gallo, who was sitting on the left post and tapped the puck into the back of the Bobcat net.
Quinnipiac would jump back out to a two goal advantage 3:56 into the third period when Babstock put in her own rebound to give the Bobcats a 4-2 lead.
Maine would battle but come up short, losing the game 4-2.
Currier made 20 saves for Maine but takes the loss and falls to 1-1-0 on the season. Vigilanti made 12 saves for Quinnipiac and moves her record to 5-0-0.
The Black Bears were 1-4 on the power play while Quinnipiac scored all four of their goals with a man advantage, going 4-8 on the power play.
The two teams close out the series tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Alfond Arena.