The Montclair State University women’s ice hockey team tried to get their second victory of the season in a game against University of Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 19. The Red Hawks unfortunately fell to Maryland 17-5.
The Red Hawks got off to a fast start, scoring just 18 seconds into the game from forward Paula Bush. Bush banked the puck off of the Maryland goaltender Riley Chadwick from a bad angle on the right side of the ice.
Maryland responded just 61 seconds later from forward Isabella Sericolo as she was just clearing the puck down to Montclair State’s zone. The puck bounced off the boards, going behind Montclair State goaltender Amber Astalos.
Maryland would go on to score three more before the halfway point of the first period to make the score 4-1. Montclair State’s second goal of the game came at 15:23 in the first period as Bush pushed the puck into the offensive zone, backing the defensemen off and dropping the puck back to defenseman Marlisa Falduto.
Falduto then shot from the slot over the glove of Chadwick for a score of 4-2. Maryland would add another goal from forward Victoria Ludwig before the period was over to end the first period with a score of 5-2.
Montclair State head coach Dave Solomon commented on the first part of the game.
“It looked like we had no energy,” Coach Solomon said. “Nobody was moving from the start.”
The second period was more of the same from the two teams. Maryland scored their sixth goal 1:27 into the second period from center Aya Gandolfo. Montclair State’s third goal came at 4:13 into the second as Bush scored her second of the game, once again cutting the score in half.
Maryland forward Angeline King scored twice within 45 seconds, at 4:30 and 5:15 of the second as Maryland really started to put the game away. The fourth goal for the Red Hawks was Falduto’s second of the game as well. Falduto made a nice move in the left corner to go around a Maryland defenseman, went to the net and flipped a backhand shot over the glove of Chadwick.
Maryland would still score four more to end out the period, making the score 12-4.
“Coming into the game I had expectations, but we came out flat and we never seemed to recovered,” Coach Soloman said.
The first action of third period saw the first penalty of the game, as Maryland forward Laura Zheng took a slashing penalty. Montclair State would score on a power play at minute six of the third period as Faltudo completed a hat trick, scoring off her own rebound.
Maryland closed out the game with five more goals to make the score a whopping 17-5.
Coach Soloman talked about the outcome of the game and his team’s effort.
“Everyone involved didn’t have their best game,” Coach Soloman said.
Overall the Red Hawks did not have enough energy throughout the game and were exposed because of it. Maryland moved the puck very well in the offensive zone and owned most of the possession.
Montclair State’s record this season is now 1-3. Coach Solomon talked about how the team will work on their mistakes this week in practice.
“We will be getting back to our defensive structure. Not overly chasing and probably [we will] be doing some skating,” Coach Soloman said.
The Red Hawks next game is this Saturday, Oct. 26, against the University of Pennsylvania, where they hope to learn from their mistakes and get a win.
