Despite starting the new year on a dismal streak, men’s hockey has managed to turn their results around as of late.
Courtesy of Brown Athletics
As students start to return from a long, restful break, Brown athletes have been busy from the court to the rink. The Herald rounded up the most recent news about Bruno’s favorite sports teams.
Hockey
Both men’s and women’s hockey seasons continued while students were away from classes. Only a few days after celebrating the new year, both teams took to the ice, reopening their seasons on Jan. 3, but with challenging starts.
Women’s hockey (11-9-1, 6-7-1, Ivy) lost their first two games of 2025, while the men went on a five-game losing streak — their longest of the season.
Despite starting the new year on a dismal streak, men’s hockey has managed to turn their results around as of late. This past weekend, they managed two wins against conference opponents St. Lawrence (6-15-1, 2-7-1 ECAC) and No. 20 Clarkson (13-7-2, 7-3-0 ECAC). They will look to carry this late momentum into the semester and hope to revive their season after a disappointing winter run.
Men’s hockey’s (7-9-2, 4-7-1) most recent win over Clarkson was, at least for one player, the performance of a season. The Bears outshot the Golden Knights 41-27 and held up defensively, allowing only two goals despite being a man down. Max Scott ’27 accounted for three of Bruno’s four goals against Clarkson, managing his first career hat trick to complete the memorable night.
These two wins also mark the first time in program history that the Bears have swept both Clarkson and St. Lawrence in regular season play. Though the winter season started poorly for men’s hockey, returning students may have a lot to look forward to as the team hopes to carry its newfound momentum into the coming weeks.
Women’s hockey started the winter in a similarly disappointing fashion. Back-to-back losses to No. 3 University of Minnesota (15-4-1) and Bemidji State University (4-20-1) marked a four-game losing streak. But over the course of the next few matches, Bruno started turning the season in their favor and have made a steady charge since the year’s early losses.
Women’s hockey has won all three of their recent matchups, including two victories over No. 8 St. Lawrence (15-6-5, 9-2-3 ECAC) and No. 9 Clarkson (18-7-1, 9-5-0 ECAC).
Both games required overtime to pick out a winner, forcing Bruno to show their grit and determination beyond the 60 minutes of regular play.
In the victory against St. Lawrence in New York, Bruno snapped a 20-game losing streak against St. Lawrence. The victory was led by freshman attacker Monique Lyons ’28, who notched a hat trick in the 4-3 victory. Lyons’s hat trick was the first by a Bruno player since Feb. 9.
Bruno would then go on for a “smash-and-grab” win away at Clarkson, taking the game 3-2 despite being outshot 34-22 in the match. Thanks to an immediate goal only 34 seconds into overtime by India McDadi ’26, the Bears protected their lead down the stretch for an impressive come-from-behind victory on Clarkson turf.
Though both men’s and women’s hockey went on late runs over winter break, neither team has been able to fully bounce back from the early disappointments of the winter, and both sit fourth from the bottom in the ECAC rankings with less than half of the season still to play.
Basketball
Both men’s (9-7, 1-2 Ivy) and women’s basketball (8-9, 2-2 Ivy) had ups and downs throughout the break. Men’s basketball won two of their six games and women’s basketball did only one better by winning three of their matchups.
Women’s basketball started their winter off strong, dismantling the University of New Hampshire (5-7) 70-43, before then having to face off against No. 9 Texas Christian University (19-2) on the road. Unfortunately for Bruno, they were brushed aside by the Horned Frogs 79-47.
Bruno then went on to face back-to-back Ivy League opponents Dartmouth (8-9, 2-2 Ivy) and Yale (2-15, 1-3 Ivy). Despite dropping the first game in the Pizzitola to Dartmouth, the Bears turned things around in the second game, defeating Yale and protecting their home court.
The Bears have been good at home thus far, winning six out of nine games, but have an abysmal 1-5 record when tested on the road.
Bruno continued their run of Ivy League opponents deeper into January, facing down both Harvard (14-2, 3-1 Ivy) and Cornell (4-13, 0-4 Ivy) this past weekend.
Though the Bears were unable to get the win in Cambridge — falling to the Crimson 83-53 — they were able to turn things back in their favor upon the return home. Bruno managed a comfortable 49-39 victory over Cornell to bounce back. Against the Big Red, guard Isabella Mauricio ’25 netted her thousandth point for the Bears.
Men’s basketball had a remarkably similar winter break. The Bears started their winter with a run of games on the road with games against top 25 opposition: No. 8 University of Kansas and No. 10 University of Kentucky. Bruno was unable to win against the overpowering opposition, losing both games by a 34-point differential.
The losses against the University of Kansas (14-4) and the University of Kentucky (14-4) snapped the Bear’s six-game winning streak — which had been building since Nov. 17.
The Bears then looked to turn their momentum around, crushing Johnson & Wales University in a 98-57 rout at home. Though things looked to be turning around for the Bears following the big victory, Bruno was unable to show up when it mattered most.
Bruno continued to struggle, dropping their first two Ivy League matchups to conference opponents Yale (10-6, 3-0 Ivy) and Harvard (6-10, 1-2 Ivy).
In their last matchup of the break, Bruno managed a nail-biting, important 83-82 win over Cornell (10-6, 2-1 Ivy). Led by Aaron Cooley ’25 — who scored a career-high 28 points and had seven rebounds in only 31 minutes of play — Bruno managed to squeak out a crucial road win. Down by four with 2:45 left to play, the Bears went on a 6-1 run to take the game.
Both teams will be looking to carry some momentum from their victories over Cornell into the rest of the season and improve their conference records.
Tennis
Men’s and women’s tennis opened their season with a perfect record this past weekend. Men’s tennis managed wins over Merrimack College and Fordham University and women’s tennis took down Boston College.
Dennis Carey is a Sports editor who enjoys playing volleyball, listening to and collecting vinyl records and poorly playing the guitar in his spare time.
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