
Freshman goalie Emily Engel watches the puck slide across the goal during the 1st period of their contest against Lindenwood University (St. Charles, MO) on Friday at the CU recreation center. The Buffaloes fell 11-0 to the Lions. (CU Independent/Patrick Ghidossi)
It’s 10-0 with less than a minute to go and two Buffs have already left the game because of serious injuries.
Right when things couldn’t get worse for the Colorado Buffalos women’s club hockey team, the top-ranked Lindenwood Lions scored one more goal as the No. 13 Buffs lost 11-0 Friday at the Rec Center.
Needless to say, it got pretty ugly on the ice.
It was a blowout from the beginning. The Lions never strayed away from CU freshman goalie Emily Engel and the Buffs looked afraid to go near the Lions’ goal.
Engel tried to stop as many shots as she could, but it seemed like the whole game took place right around her. She would block a shot and then another would sneak in.
With two players taken to the hospital, it looked like the Buffs were bullied on their own playground.
Sophomore forward Lindsey Maier summed up the loss.
“They were bigger, and took more shots than us,” Maier said, “and every mistake we made, they took advantage of.”
Senior forward Ashley Abrams added, “They are the first-ranked team, and they are huge, and they injured two of our girls. Two of our girls went to the hospital.”
In the first period, the Buffs trailed 4-0 fairly quickly. Within the first three minutes of the second period, the Buffs were down 5-0 and it continued to worsen from there.
The big deficit, players said, took the sails out of CU.
“We were really excited for this game, but then we started panicking and they got the best of us,” said sophomore forward Kaitlyn Gherity.
Then, the injuries piled up.

Sophmore forward Lizzie Stoll (#21) keeps the puck from Lindenwood forward Ashley Rebeck (#14) at the end of the second period of the first game of Friday afternoon's ACHA womens' hockey tournament. The Buffs lost to the Lions 11-0. (CU Independent/Kelly Kaoudis)
Freshman forward Stephanie Dubin was smacked into the wall, fell on the ice and curled into the fetal position before she was escorted was off by a couple of teammates.
“She got hit really hard,” said Abrams of Dubin’s injury. “She think[s] she broke her sternum.”
A few minutes later, freshman defender Kathryn Brewer tried to defend the goal, but was suddenly thrown down on her back during a scrum and smacked her head on the ice. She stayed down for a couple of minutes.
According to Abrams, Brewer had suffered two concussions earlier this year. Whether she received another has not been confirmed.
It was a humbling game to say the least, but some players say their spirit isn’t broken yet.
“We need to learn from our mistakes tonight,” Gherity said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Gina Yocom at Gina.yocom@colorado.edu.
1 comment
Nice Photos and Article!