BURLINGTON, Vt. - Roxanne Douville made 40 saves to lead Vermont to its fifth straight league win over Providence College 2-1 Friday night in Hockey East action at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
The Friars opened the scoring 14:36 into the first period. Lexi Slattery took a pass from Brooke Simpson at the point and skated into the slot before directing a wrist shot towards Douville. Douville lost the puck in traffic and it went in for her first goal of the season. The goal capped off an impressive first period in which the Friars outshot Vermont 9-2.
The Catamounts came out strong in the second period and equalized 90 seconds in. Gina Repaci intercepted a Providence pass in the neutral zone, skated past a Friar on the blue line and walked in alone on Providence netminder Sarah Bryant. She fired a hard low shot through Bryant's legs for her third goal of the season.
On the penalty kill midway through the period Providence was awarded a penalty shot at the 10:29 mark after Beth Hanrahan was taken down on a breakaway. Hanrahan skated towards Douville and went quickly to her backhand but Douville stuck the right pad out to deny Hanrahan's bid for her ninth goal of the season.
The Catamounts scored the eventual game-winner 48 seconds into the third period on the power play. Dayna Colang fed a cross-ice pass to Amanda Pelkey who collected the puck and fired a wrist shot to the top corner for her 20th goal of the season. She is the first Catamount to ever reach the 20-goal plateau. Pelkey leads Hockey East this season with 15 power play points. Colang tied her teammate Victoria Andreakos for second in the league with her 12th power play point on the play.
With a one-goal lead to work with Douville shut the door for the Catamounts making 13 third period saves including several crucial stops as Vermont killed off four consecutive Providence power play opportunities. The win was Vermont's 16th of the season and 12th in league play this year, both are team records.
"Roxanne has been dialed in since the Boston College weekend, she's playing with a lot of confidence, I don't think we gave up a lot of second chances but she was there when we needed her," said head coach Jim Plumer. "If we really want to play well next weekend tomorrow is our last chance at playing a complete game, I don't think it's going to get any easier but I think we can play a lot smarter and execute better."
Vermont concludes the regular season tomorrow afternoon against Providence at 4 p.m. The Catamounts five seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Fans can purchase tickets online at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or in person at the Gutterson box office one-hour prior to the game.