The University of Maine women’s hockey team has made significant strides in its 31/2 varsity seasons to date.

But there is one major accomplishment they have yet to attain: a win over a Big Five team.

The Big Five are established powers Northeastern, Providence, Dartmouth, New Hampshire, and Brown. Maine is 0-26 against those programs, including an 0-6 mark this season.

The Black Bears host two of them, Northeastern and Providence, this weekend. Maine faces Northeastern at 7 p.m. Saturday and Providence at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Maine coach Rick Filighera said there are two reasons for the Bears’ woes against the Big Five.

“The first thing is mental toughness. We don’t have it yet. We got up 2-0 on Northeastern earlier this season but then they scored a goal and we panicked,” said Filighera, whose Bears lost 5-3.

“Secondly, we can skate with anybody at the Division I level and we will work as hard as anybody we play, but we can’t handle the puck very well. We don’t control passes. So we’ve got to keep the game simple by dumping the puck into the offensive zone and using our speed to track it down,” said Filighera.

Junior defensemen LeeAnne Irwin and Tracy Caridade said they have closed the gap between themselves and the Big Five – Maine lost to Providence 1-0 on Dec. 2 – and it is just a matter of time before they annex that first win.

“We play great against those teams. The games are very close. But, for some reason, we haven’t been able to pull off a win,” said Irwin. “Once we get that first win, we’ll starting beating those teams more often. It has been frustrating for us because we’ve come so close.”

Caridade agreed, saying, “Our confidence is good. All we need is that first win. If we can beat Northeastern on Saturday, I know we’ll come out flying on Sunday.”

She said it might have become somewhat of a “mental block for some people, especially the younger players,” but she added that there is no reason to dwell on the winless skein.

“We need to take it game by game and everybody needs to be mentally prepared,” said Caridade.

The series is an important one for the Bears’ ECAC playoff hopes.

Maine is currently in 10th place but is only two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot. Maine is 4-8 in the conference, 9-9 overall.

The Bears have two games in hand on eighth-place Princeton and ninth-place Cornell. Maine is only one point behind Cornell.

“We’re going to need 10 [league] wins to make the playoffs,” speculated Filighera, whose Bears have 12 games left.

Maine’s top scorer has HE low

University of Maine men’s hockey sophomore center Marty Kariya leads the Bears in scoring with six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 23 games.

His total is the lowest among the leading scorers for the nine Hockey East schools.

In fact, New Hampshire has eight players with more than 15 points, Providence has six, and Boston College and UMass-Lowell have five apiece.

UMass and Merrimack have three apiece while Northeastern and Boston University have only one player with more than 15 points.

However, the Black Bears have held teams to two goals or less in 18 of their last 27 games dating back to last season. That includes 14 of 23 games this season.

Maine has given up three goals in a game four times during that span and all four occurred this season.