The Massachusetts women’s club hockey team extended its win streak to eight games with a 3-2 win over Arizona. The Minutewomen (16-7-2) battled through heavy physicality from the Wildcats (10-12) to finish out the two-game series with a win.
Halfway through the third period, Hannah Gromko batted a centering pass from Kelsie Partridge into the back of the net, sealing the game for UMass. A long shot from defender Shelby Little set up the battle in front of the net, leading to the goal.
Little and Gromko combined for four points, a goal and an assist each, and had a hand in all three goals for the Minutewomen. With those two points, Gromko remains a scoring threat, posting 11 points in eight games.
Gromko’s game-winning goal heightened the emotional tension between UMass and Arizona. Multiple scrums broke out in front of the Wildcats’ net with lots of pushing and shoving. Anna Jeffs took a checking penalty late in the game, bringing the total to five penalties for Arizona.
“We can’t control the other team, we can’t control the referees, we can only control what we do,” head coach Bill Wright said.
Little’s goal tied the game at one for the Minutewomen. The senior crossed the blue line with a head full of steam to receive a pass from Gromko, quickly teed up and ripped her shot to the right-hand corner, lighting the lamp. UMass got a major energy boost through the rest of the first period.
The second goal for the Minutewomen came off the Wildcats’ second penalty of the game that stretched from the end of the first to the beginning of the second period. Riley Evans took the puck at the point, passed it along the blue line to Little, who sent it towards the net. Shea Mcdonald nabbed the redirect to score the power-play goal.
“The game plan today was to just come in and work extremely hard to stay on task mentally to be able to handle the physical nature that we knew was going to come,” Wright said.
Arizona came out with similar intensity to the last game, laying statement hits. They used their physicality to knock bodies off the puck and clog the zone while on defense, making it difficult for UMass to generate clean offense.
Both of the Wildcats’ goals came off quick plays in transition, dominating off turnovers. Arizona opened the scoring with a speedy zone entry where Lucy Verderber chipped the puck and banked it off the left pad of Sarah Matthews.
Lilly Howell scored the second goal for the Wildcats. She stole the puck in the neutral zone and broke away to go one-on-one with Matthews, where she dinged it off the post and in for her 15th goal of the season. After being an assist-first player her freshman year, the sophomore has switched to shooting first, scoring three hat tricks within those 15 goals.
Matthews was strong in net again for the Minutewomen, coming up with 21 crucial saves. In four straight starts, the Illinois native has posted a 0.978 save percentage. Payton Planetta had 24 saves on the night for Arizona.
UMass will face Michigan State for its final of three games in three days, looking to close out the weekend with a ninth straight win. The Spartans are also coming off a two-game series against the Rhode Island Rams, leveling the playing field for the Minutewomen.
“We’re ready to go, get a little rest today and be ready to go tomorrow morning,” Wright said.
UMass will close out the weekend on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 11 a.m. at the Mullins Center Community Rink.
Shelby Ball can be reached at [email protected].
