“Senior Day” at Appleton Arena ended less than sweetly for the St. Lawrence women’s hockey team and its seniors as the Saints fell to the tenth-nationally ranked Harvard 3-2 in overtime. With the loss, the Saints fall to 13-16-2 overall and 8-11-0 in ECAC league play.
It was a tough note to end on for the departing seniors and their teammates. Wanting a win on “Senior Day”, St. Lawrence and Harvard engaged each other in a classic seesaw match with back-and-forth scoring that took the game into overtime. Unfortunately, Harvard took control and snagged the deal the game-winning goal with 6.3 seconds remaining in overtime.
St. Lawrence and Harvard remained scoreless after the first period. Harvard grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 11:23 mark in the second period, however, St. Lawrence would quickly respond with senior Lauren Brozowski netting her fourth goal of the year to tie the game up at 1-1. The Saints took their only lead of the game with 39.2 seconds remaining in the second period as Kelly Sabatine ’13 notched the go-ahead goal assisted by Brooke Fernandez ‘13 and Brozowski.
Following the game was a ceremony to celebrate the five members of the senior class of 2011; Lauren Brozowski, Maxie Weisz and Nicolien Bongaerts including senior assistant captains Kirsten Roach and Karell Emard.
Emard, a Venise en Quebec, Quebec native, has appeared in 115 games. The assistant captain has managed to total 23 goals and 45 assists throughout her career.
Brozowski, a transfer from UConn, is an ECAC Hockey All-Academic member. Lauren has appeared in 68 games for the Saints, totaling 10 career points.
Maxie Weisz, a goalie from Severna Park, MD, has appeared in 52 contests, attaining a .902 save percentage.
Nicolien Bongaerts, another goalie in this senior class, is a two-time ECAC Hockey All-Academic team member. For her college hockey career, she has a .833 save percentage and 2.33 Goals Against Average (GAA).
Kirsten Roach, an Ajax, Ontario native, is also an ECAC Hockey All-Academic team member and an assistant captain. During her tenure she has managed to appear in 110 games while scoring 13 goals and 20 assists.
Asked what her last few years at St. Lawrence meant to her, Roach expressed humbleness and gratefulness, “Playing hockey here has made my SLU experience what it is. My career has had its ups and downs, but the experience of playing hockey here has definitely changed my life. Being a part of SLU hockey is like having a second family, and I know that the friends I’ve made here will be life-long friends. Even though daily practices, workouts, meetings, games, etc. takes up the majority of my time, I don’t think I’d have it any other way. This experience has helped me structure my days and properly manage my time. I feel that this will be a great quality to have mastered now that I am entering the ‘real world.’ Playing hockey at this level has not only taught me time management skills but also simply how to survive after University. My SLU experience has forced me to grow up, and I’m so glad for that.”
