Vendula Pribylova provided the game-winning goal with 36.9 seconds left, re-directing in a point shot from Brittany Colton.
“The thought process was really just kind of get it to the net, don’t get it blocked,” Colton, a freshman, said. “I saw some teammates in front of the net, just shoot the puck, hope and pray that they get a stick on it. And they were in good position, so it just worked out.”
The Black Bears (2-6-0, 1-3-0) weathered the storm in the first period, when the Eagles (3-2-1, 3-1-0) put 11 shots on goal and had two cracks at power plays. The second power play bled into the second period, but BC couldn’t get anything going with its remaining 20 seconds of the man-advantage.
The third time was the charm for the Eagles on the power play early in the second. Caitrin Lonergan carried the puck out of her own end, then zig-zagged through the Maine defense once she got into the offensive zone before beating Black Bears goalie Carly Jackson.
Maine was prepared to go blow-for-blow with BC in the period, however. The Black Bears kept it close in the shot department, with the Eagles holding a slim 9-8 edge, compared to an 11-5 disparity in the first period.
The Black Bears also kept it close on the scoreboard. Tereza Vanisova and Morgan Sakundiak teamed up on a 2-on-1, with the latter feeding the former from the right side for a goal near the left post 12 minutes into the frame.
“Every time (Tereza) steps on the ice she creates offense, and that’s something that we really lacked last year,” Maine coach Richard Reichenbach said.
Vanisova was on the giving end for the Black Bears’ go-ahead goal early in the third. The freshman from the Czech Republic fed Brooke Stacey right to left, and Stacey stayed patient until an opening past BC goalie Katie Burt opened up.
Maine held off a pair of power plays as the period wore on. The Eagles could only muster one shot on goal between the two man-advantages, but found another way to crack the Black Bears defense and get the game-tying goal.
Toni Ann Miano took a shot from the left point and Kristyn Capizziano re-directed in past Jackson.
“We were really proud that when they tied the game late in the third we just stuck with the game plan,” Reichenbach said.
Part of that game plan was to work 2-on-1s when the Black Bears went on the power play with less than three minutes to go. One shot was put on net, but two others were headed that way before being deflected away.
“I think they just did a really good job of attacking the net and creating the pressure,” Reichenbach said.
Maine held off BC’s last-ditch effort in the final 30-plus seconds to earn a confidence-boosting win for a struggling team.
“We’ve had a really tough start to our schedule,” Reichenbach said. “We played them twice, we played Quinnipiac twice. We have a really young team. We have 13 new kids in the lineup, between our freshmen and redshirts last year. We’ve been playing well, we just … if you let up with a team like that — last time we played them lost 5-1 — so we just finally put the 60 minutes together. I think the crowd was a huge boost for our motivation today. We played disciplined and we stuck with the game plan.”
Colton called the Norway Savings Bank Arena crowd of 778 fans “inspiring.”
The Black Bears also got an inspired performance in net by Jackson, who stopped 28 of 30 shots.
“CJ, our goalie, really played strong today,” Colton said. “It was definitely nice knowing that she was on her game.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
