ORONO, Maine - The 13th-ranked Vermont women's hockey team scored five unanswered goals Saturday afternoon as they swept their weekend series at Alfond Arena with a 7-2 win over Maine. Six Catamounts skaters had two or more points including graduate defenseman Ellice Murphy who led the way with three points. With the win, Vermont is now 7-4-1 on the campaign and 5-2-1 in league play.
COACH'S QUOTE
"It was great to get six points this weekend and it was frankly harder than it looked from the scores," Head Coach Jim Plumer said. "Maine played hard, wrestled the momentum away from us at times and I'm very pleased with how we responded. It was also good for us to spread the scoring out. In particular, Evelyne Blais-Savoie had an outstanding weekend and we had contributions from all over the line chart today. Our first Hockey East sweep of the year is behind us and we have to now turn our attention to a big weekend at home against BU."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Tynka Pátková opened the scoring for the Catamounts 5:55 into the first period. Pátková collected a rebound off a shot from Ellice Murphy and fired it high into the net for her first goal of the season. Initially the goal was missed by the officials as it bounced off the goaltenders' water bottle and out. After the first whistle officials reviewed the shot and called it a goal. Bella Parento earned the secondary assist on the play.
- Alyssa Wruble and Grace Heiting (PP) scored goals 3:24 apart to give Maine a 2-1 edge with 6:59 left in the first period.
- Blais-Savoie equalized with 4:26 left in the opening frame. On a three-on-two rush for the Catamounts Blais-Savoie beat Brooklyn Oakes with a quick shot to the short-side for her fifth goal of the year.
- Murphy gave the Catamounts the lead with 47 seconds left in the first. Sini Karjalainen one-timed a pass from Maddy Skelton but Oakes made the initial save. Murphy was right in front and poked home the puck for her third goal of the season.
- Blais-Savoie and Lara Beecher combined on the fourth goal for the Catamounts in the second period. Blais-Savoie chipped the puck behind the net and Beecher retrieved the puck and centered a feed out front. Blais-Savoie one-timed Beecher's feed home for her second of the game at the 11:27 mark.
- In the final moments of the third period the Black Bears pulled their goalie and Beecher and Natálie Mlýnková added empty-net tallies to make it a 7-2 win for Vermont.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Vermont has now won five straight overall against the Black Bears. In addition, the Catamounts have won their last six games at Alfond Arena.
- Dating back to last season Vermont has scored five or more goals in eight of its last 27 games.
- With tonight's 7-2 win, Community Bank N.A. will donate $525 to Special Olympics Vermont. Community Bank, N.A. donates $75 per goal to Special Olympics Vermont for every goal the men's and women's team scores this season.
- With today's win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to COTS, the Committee on Temporary Shelter, as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since the campaigns inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $72,000 to local non-profits.
UP NEXT
Vermont returns home next weekend for a two-game set against Boston University. The Catamounts and Terriers will renew acquaintances at 2 p.m. on Friday, November 11 and Saturday.
Friday is the Catamounts annual, Military Appreciation Game presented by Milton CAT. We encourage fans to visit with our friends from Josh Pallotta Fund, a local non-profit providing critical services to veterans and active military personnel. As a thank you to those that have served or are currently serving, all military personnel will receive a complimentary ticket to the game with a valid military ID.
The team will be wearing special edition Military Appreciation jerseys that will be auctioned off online starting at puck drop. The online auction will go live on November 11 at 2 p.m. and will close on November 18 at 2 p.m. When the auction goes live, you can visit uvmathletics.com/auctions to place your bids. Proceeds from the jersey auction will benefit the Josh Pallotta Fund.
Both contests from Gutterson Fieldhouse like all conference games will air on ESPN+. The games will also be available on a pay-per-view basis internationally at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/hockeyeast. Subscriptions to the service are available for $9.99 USD per month or $4.99 USD for individual games.
