FINAL SCORE (OT): Vermont 2, Providence 2
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont senior
Madison Litchfield once again set a new season-high with 38 saves, but Meaghan Rickard scored for Providence with a mere six tenths of a second remaining in regulation as the Catamounts finished the afternoon with a 2-2 draw in hand at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
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UVM is now 12-10-9 on the season and 8-6-7 against Hockey East opponents, while the Friars are 14-14-3 and 9-9-3 against conference foes. In securing a point, the Catamounts now have a total of 23 in the standings and are ahead of Providence by a pair for third place in Hockey East.
"Providence is a good team," said head coach
Jim Plumer. "We didn't play nearly as well as I thought we could have for two periods; I liked the way we played in the third. But this is hockey, and every one of these situations is different. We'd like to go in jumps of two points, but we'll take one. I am proud of these guys for fighting, and in some ways, we're getting a lot out of our kids–certainly out of our goaltending."
Litchfield's counterpart, Madison Myers, amassed 20 saves on the day. Both goalies are natives of Vermont and specifically Chittenden County, as Litchfield hails from nearby Williston and Myers from Colchester.
Vermont grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period off the stick of senior
Rachael Ade. Ade collected the puck in her own zone while on a power play, heading along the boards and backhanding a shot as she skated toward the slot. Myers initially made the save, but the puck ended up trickling home at 15:13. Freshman
Ève-Audrey Picard received an assist on the goal, which was Ade's sixth of the season and leads all Catamount defensemen.
Ade also has now registered a point in her last three games.
In the second period, Providence moved the score to one-apiece when Neve Van Pelt cleaned up a doorstep rebound, culminating a series that saw Rickard and Rachel Rockwell earn helpers.
Both teams traded goals in the final 20 minutes en route to the final result, beginning with senior
Victoria Andreakos' eighth tally of the year. After receiving an errant Providence pass in the offensive zone, Andreakos had the puck poked away before it was corralled by classmate
Casey Leveillee. The latter fed the puck between two Friars and set up Andreakos to beat Myers glove-side with 14:01 on the clock.
Rickard's equalizer finished a sequence that began with 7.7 seconds remaining. After claiming an offensive zone faceoff to Litchfield's right, the Friars won a battle along the boards and had the puck directed toward goal by Christina Putigna. In spite of the feed being knocked down in front, Rickard came swooping in and buried the opportunity.
The Green and Gold managed to outshoot Providence by a 5-1 margin in the extra session but were unable to beat Myers.
Vermont now faces a quick turnaround and begins preparations to face No. 6 Boston College on the road on Sunday (Feb. 12). Puck drop at Conte Forum will be at 2 p.m.
NOTES: Sophomore
Sammy Kolowrat is currently in Arosa, Switzerland representing the Czech Republic at the Women's Olympic Qualifiers ... The Czechs earned a 5-0 win over Norway on Thursday (Feb. 9) and continue the round-robin tournament on Saturday (Feb. 11) at 2 p.m. (ET) with a matchup against Denmark ... On Sunday (Feb. 12), the national team will conclude the qualifier with a 10 a.m. (ET) tilt against Switzerland.
The Windjammer Restaurant and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 women's hockey season
