Suffolk University women’s hockey could not get lightning to strike twice.
Taking on nationally ranked Endicott College in the Conference of New England semifinals, the Rams were dealt a 3-1 loss by the Gulls to end their season.
The Rams’ season ends with a 10-16-1 record in head coach Abby Ostrom’s second season, an improvement from a 8-15-2 record last season. The Rams end the season with a 1-3 record against the Gulls, having beaten them 3-2 in overtime at home in November.
“Overall I’d say we competed until the last whistle,” said Ostrom. “I think there were some ebbs and flows where we lost a bit of momentum, but overall we competed hard. They have a good team and that top line of theirs scored all three goals. Unfortunately we weren’t able to shut that line down tonight and I thought that was the difference for us.”
The only goal of the first period came from Endicott’s Samantha Fantasia, who scored 9:46 into the game on Suffolk goalie Katelyn Michals. The Gulls lead doubled just 53 seconds into the second period when Fantasia assisted on a goal from Rivers Morris.
Suffolk got on the board quickly after Morris’ goal. Bella Schmidt scored for the Rams 2:40 into the second on a backhand goal in front of Endicott goalie Lauren Ferrari after corralling a pass from Kate Pohl.
That would be the only goal the Rams would end up scoring, as one more goal by Fantasia later in the period made it a 3-1 game in favor of Endicott.
“We had our chances,” said Ostrom. “I don’t think we got to the interior as much as I would have liked us to, and I thought the one time we did successfully was when we scored. Whether we were a little too slow moving the puck low to high or if we didn’t get those shots through from the defense, we just didn’t create enough opportunities consistently throughout the night.”
Ferrari got the win in goal for the Gulls by making 24 saves on 25 Suffolk shots. Michals was tested time and time again for the Rams, stopping 44 of the 47 shots from Endicott.
Ostrom credited Michals for keeping the Rams close all game long.
“I thought she played really well. I don’t know if the shots were accurate but she held her own, she was solid back there for us,” said Ostrom. “She made two unbelievable glove saves that I don’t think any other goalie in our league would have. No fault on her at all, I thought she competed hard and played to the best of her ability.”
The end of the season for the Rams marks the end of the Suffolk careers of four seniors, plus graduate students Pohl and Lily O’Neil. Leslie Steiner, Sam Molind, Sammy Lassman and Maddie Gagliano are the seniors graduating, which also means the entire leadership group of the team will be brand new next season.
Ostrom reflected on how influential this graduating class has been in the history of Suffolk women’s hockey and how it will be a challenge to replace their leadership all at once.
“The six of them, they’re pivotal to our success this season,” said Ostrom. “I’m very appreciative of how hard they competed every day in practice, every game. They always push the team forward, held the team accountable but at the same time, they wanted it. This was a team that was very tight knit, they got along really well and the culture was good. To lose a piece of that is always tough.”
