ORONO, MAINE – The women’s hockey team increased its unbeaten streak to five games with a 2-2 tie at Maine. It is the first time the Raiders have not been defeated by the Black Bears in six chances. Becky Irvine (Lakeview, N.S.) was the offensive star, tallying the game-tying goal and assisting on the Raiders first score.
Maine took the lead at 14:04 of the first period when Kate Hartley tallied her first goal of the season from Kate Sunstrom and Meagan Aarts. 15 seconds later the Black Bears found the back of the net again on Karen Droog’s second goal of the campaign. Morgan Janusc registered the assist on the tally.
¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ, who outshot Maine 31-17, finally got on the board at the 16:56 mark of the second period, when Allison Paiano (Orleans, Ont.) registered her team-leading fourth goal of the season, cutting the Maine lead to one. Amanda Barre (Grafton, Ont.) and Irvine assisted on the power-play goal.
Just one minute later Irvine tallied the game-tying goal on the power-play. It was Irvine’s third goal of the season and was assisted by Barre.
The Raiders, who had been an abismal 1-18 on the power play, got things back on track by going 2-6 with the advantage. ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ recorded seven power play shots.
The two squads played a scoreless third period and overtime to finish knotted at two. Each team recorded one overtime shot.
Rebecca Lahar (Vienna, Va.) only had to make 15 saves, but she made some excellent stops in the second and third period to preserve the tie. Lahar has not allowed more than two goals in the first five games of the season and has a 1.57 goals against average.
The Raiders, who dominated much of the game, went 2-6 on the power play and are now 3-24 this season. ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ outshot its’ opponent for the fourth-straight game and killed all three Maine power-plays.
The Raiders are now 4-0-1 after starting last season 2-3. Maine and ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ square off again Sunday for a 2 p.m. face-off.
Game notes: Last season Maine defeated ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ 3-1, and 5-0 in Orono.