Here is Dave Bailey's recap on Bowdoin-Maine game. The Black Bears
dropped a 6-3 decision to the Polar Bears.
 
by Dave Bailey
 
In the yearly Battle of the Bears, it was the Polar Bears who showed
considerably more growl than the Black Bears.
Bowdoin College rang up four second-period goals to claw past the
University of Maine in a 6-3 women's hockey victory Wednesday night in
Brunswick.
 Maine center Alison Lorenz said that Bowdoin was able to take
advantage of its opportunities.
"They got a couple of good bounces, and they worked really hard,"
Lorenz, who had an assist on the evening, said. "We slowed down and we
got a little sluggish, and it hurt us."
"We had two of our three things that we need [to win] break down,"
Maine coach Rick Filighera said. "We got our opportunistic scoring,
but our defensive zone coverage broke down a few times, and our
goaltending was average instead of above-average, which we needed to
be.
"I know that's a lot of pressure on our goalies, but that's something
that we're going to need in order to be successful."
The loss drops Maine to 0-2-1 in the ECAC Alliance, 1-2-1 overall.
Bowdoin is now 1-3-1 overall.
Alicia Gilmore notched two goals for the Black Bears, while Alana
Ahearn dished out two assists.
After a scoreless first period, Maine drew first blood 58 seconds into
the second on Christina Hedges' power-play goal.
The Polar Bears emerged from their igloo after that, however, scoring
three goals in a six-minute span.
Maine closed the gap at the 10:58 mark of the second on the power play
when Gilmore tallied her first goal. Bowdoin pushed the lead back up to
two goals less than a minute later, but Gilmore struck again to narrow
the score to 4-3 Bowdoin after two periods.
"I felt we had chance when we made it 3-2," Filighera said. "They made
it 4-2 two minutes later, and I thought that kind of hurt us."
In the third, Bowdoin tacked on two more goals to leave Maine buried in
ice shavings.
Maine goaltender Amy Oliver (1-2-1) made 41 saves, marking her second
consecutive 40-save game.
Maine will attempt to rebound this weekend when it visits two more
division rivals: Amherst (Saturday) and Williams (Sunday). Both teams
share identical 0-2-0 records in Alliance play through last week.
According to Lorenz, Maine will have to bear down in order to come out
on top.
"We're definitely going to have to work hard," Lorenz said. "We're
definitely at a disadvantage because of our small numbers [18 players],
but that doesn't mean anything.
"I think we can win both games this weekend,  but we're really going to
have to really want to win them and we're going to have to work as a
team."
Filighera will try to add some spark to the sagging offense by shifting
a defenseman to one of the wing posts, possibly Christina Hedges, who
has two goals so far this season.
"She's very offensive-minded, " Filighera said. "Hopefully that will
help us score some more goals and take some pressure off that second
line."
Filighera said he is hoping the Bears will have more bite in them the
next time the whistle blows.
"We also got a do a little better job in our own end of the rink," he
said. "We're going to work on being a little more aggressive in our end
of the rink."
In other news, forward Michelle Young's chronic leg injury has flared
up again and she will sit out this weekend's games.