After a slow start in the first period, Brown (1-1) came back to upset No. 5 New Hampshire (4-1), 3-2, in their home opener on Sunday. Sophomore Hayley Moore’s goal 20 seconds into the second period gave Brown its first lead and freshman Kim McManus’ first career goal proved to be the game winner as Brown took a 3-1 lead with about seven minutes remaining in the final period.
With the Wildcats dominating most of the opening period with a 14-3 shot advantage, Brown was down 1-0 going into the first intermission on a Wildcat power play goal by Amy McLaughlin, who was a former All-League player for Brown before joining UNH.
Brown came out in the second and knotted the score at one, when senior Margaret Ramsey took a rebound and fired it into the back of the net for a Brown power play goal. Sophomore Hayley Moore passed the puck to senior Ashlee Drover at the point, where she fired a hard slap shot that Wildcat goalie Melissa Bourdon couldn’t control, giving Ramsay the goal. UNH and Brown picked up their play in the second half as each team was looking for the go-ahead goal.
Moore gave the Bears the lead only twenty seconds into the final period when she received a pass from Ramsay and put it past the UNH goalie, lighting the lamp and putting the score at 2-1 in Brown’s favor.
Midway through the period, the Wildcats picked up a free puck at center ice and found Leah Craig streaking down center ice for a breakaway. Sophomore O’Hara Shipe made a quick move to the right stopping the puck and keeping the Bears ahead with ten minutes to go in the game.
On a late power play, freshman Frances Male took the puck at center ice and skated into the Wildcats zone a snapped a quick shot at the UNH net where McManus took the rebound and scored what proved to be the game winner with just over seven minutes to go in the game.
Jennifer Hitchcock scored with 2:21 to go, but it wasn’t enough. UNH pressured the Bear’s defense hard the final three minutes, but could not find the equalizer as Shipe stopped four of the Wildcat’s shots. Shipe finished the game with 21 saves in the win. Bourdon had 18 saves in defeat.
