Published: February 9, 2026
GORHAM, Maine – USM Women’s Hockey faced off against the Salve Regina Seahawks in a 9-goal thriller on Saturday afternoon.
The opening minutes of the game saw the Huskies pinned in their own zone. But from a team struggling to score at the beginning of the season to now scoring at least 4 in each of their past 3 games, confidence soon blossomed. Captain Makenzie Woodford set the tone with relentless work, as the Huskies forced 3 saves in quick succession. A brilliant display of skill from Sophia Capone – carrying the puck from behind her own goal – sparked a break that led to a chance for teammate Jillian Jackson. Against the run of momentum, Salve opened the scoring following a scuffle in front of the goal. The Huskies’ response was resilient; less than two minutes later, after a recovery from Freshman Gracelyn Koch, Grad Student Madison Chagnon beat three players and watched her effort trickle over the line to tie it up. Captain Olivia Stewart led the push with more chances, but a misplaced pass proved costly as the Seahawks #8 capitalised while they were shorthanded. Then USM answered again… an offensive possession and a slap shot from Captain Donahue was kept alive for Jackson to bury another equalizer from the same power play.
After a wild first period, it was all about the Huskies after the break. Unfortunately, one strong chance was all the Seahawks needed to punish the home side; Batchelder completed her hat-trick. A few minutes later, an under-the-legs heartbreaker saw the puck trickle into the Huskies’ net yet again to make it 4-2 with 10 minutes remaining.
USM continued to come out hard; Saige MacLeod had two chances in quick succession, and Stewart (after a heavy collision with the boards earlier in the period) returned for a marathon shift, winning the Huskies a penalty. With 20 seconds to go, after the puck worked its way through Gretzky’s office, it popped back out for Sophomore Josie Arrants, who fired home a beautiful long shot – her first career goal.
Giving the Huskies hope in the final stretch, Huskies Freshman Goaltender Brooklyn Goodman (making her debut for the final two periods) stood tall and finished with a massive 12 saves, but couldn’t help as Salve struck again with three minutes to go. The score didn’t reflect the Huskies’ play, but they didn’t surrender; Chagnon got her ninth of the season and second of the game, following up on her own shot to coolly slot home a rebound, punishing the visitors as they made ill-timed line changes.
Captain Olivia Stewart offered her two cents after the game: “We battled really hard and generated a lot of scoring opportunities, putting up four goals… we definitely could have buried a couple more, but it just didn’t go our way”.
USM Women’s Hockey showed heart and an offensive spark, ultimately looking the more dangerous side. In a game full of fight and persistence, they came back from a goal down on two occasions, proving what it really means to be a Husky.
They are currently sitting at 8-10-1, with a tough doubleheader next weekend against No.5 Norwich University at home. When asked about the matchup, Stewart said, “The defensive zone is going to be really important. We’re playing one of the strongest teams in our league, but as long as we keep working hard, clearing the front of the net, and producing the amount of offense we’ve shown over the last few weekends, we’ll be in a good spot.”
Saturday, February 7th at 3 pm will also be the Huskies’ Senior Day – head down to the Ice Arena to celebrate some illustrious careers! The team looks to continue their promising run of form as they near the LEC Playoffs.
