ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine Women's Ice Hockey team made a thrilling comeback to tie their opening conference match against Providence College Sunday afternoon. The final score was 2-2 ending in overtime. Maine went to 1-2-1 and 0-0-0-1 in Hockey East on the season, while Providence went to 0-0-1 and 0-0-1 in Hockey East.
In the first period, Providence came out of the gate shooting. The game saw it's first goal at 1:09 into the first period when Rachel Crissy got a rebound off of Maine goaltender Genevieve Turgeon and threw into the back of the net. The previous shot was taken by Kathleen Smith so she was awarded the assist. Providence's second goal didn't come much later. After Maine took a penalty, Providence went on the powerplay and after some top notch passing Sarah Feldman shot and scored assisted by Erin Normore and Kathleen Smith again. The Black Bears were outshot by the Friars 20-7.
The second period saw Providence still having control over Maine. But some great saves by Turgeon kept the Black Bears in the game. Again Providence outshot Maine 14-10.
The third period saw a reinvigorated Black Bear side. Maine was holding the puck for long periods of time in their offensive zone and putting a lot of shots on net. Maine finally got on the board at 17:10 into the period. Maine had had a powerplay advantage but two seconds after it was over a Providence clear saw it's way right to Taryn Peacock and she put it past Friar goaltender Danielle Ciarletta. Soon after Maine pulled their goaltender and put more and more pressure on the Friars. With :09 to go in the game a scrum in front of the net saw Vanessa Vani squeeze it past Ciarletta to tie the game. Maine outshot Providence in the period 12-6.
The overtime period saw Maine keep the pressure on and after a Providence penalty it looked Maine had the edge. But the Friars were resilient and secured the tie game.
Maine goaltender Genevieve Turgeon had 40 saves on the day. Providence goaltender Danielle Ciarletta tallied 29 saves. Providence outshot Maine 42-31. Maine was 0-for-7 on the power-play while Providence was 1-for-6
The Black Bears next games will be away at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on October 19-20. Maine will next return home on November 2-3 for a series with Clarkson University.