Box
Score
MIDDLEBURY, VT -- The women's hockey team fought valiantly
against #2-seed Middlebury at the Kenyon Arena this
afternoon, but they fell to the Panthers 3-1 in the quarterfinal
round of the NESCAC tournament. The Ephs finish the
'08-'09 campaign with an overall mark of 8-16-1, while
Middlebury (17-3-4) will advance to the semifinal round next
weekend.
The two teams played scoreless hockey for nearly two full
periods, as Eph netminder junior Sara Plunkett made 19 saves in the
first period and 20 more stops in the second, including several
great saves on a first period 5-on-3 penalty kill. She would
finish the game with an astounding 44 saves.
"Sara played an amazing game for us," praised Eph head coach
Shannon Bryant. "She really stood on her head to keep us in
this one, and I can't say enough about the effort she put forward
today."
At 18:34 of the middle period the Panthers broke the scoreless
tie, when junior forward Heather McCormick sent the puck
deep into the Ephs zone and, after a brief scramble, senior forward
Annmarie Cellino slid one past Plunkett for her 9th of the season.
As impressive as Plunkett and the Eph penalty kill were in those
first two frames (denying all six Panther power play chances), the
Middlebury defense was equally as stubborn, allowing Williams just
seven shots over forty minutes and killing both Eph power plays.
At exactly 5:00 into the final period, Williams found net, as
junior forward Tracey Ferriter and sophomore
forward Jacqueline Berglass converted a two-on-one odd-man
rush into a game-tying goal. For Berglass it was her 3rd
goal, while Ferriter registered her team-leading 21st point of the
season.
But just as things were looking favorable for Williams,
Middlebury responded and retook the lead just 2:34
later when freshman forward Maggie Melberg tipped in a shot from
the left side by McCormack for her 11th goal. The Panthers
put the game away at 16:05, as junior defenseman Marjie Billings
sent in a shot from the point that McCormack fired home for her
10th this year. The final goal gave McCormack a goal and two
asssits for the game.
"I thought we were going to make a run for the victory when we
tied it up in the third," said Bryant. "Our team displayed
incredible resilience to stay in the game as long as they did and
everybody played with tremendous heart, especially the three
seniors...I couldn't be prouder of the way the seniors played
today. We really left it all on the ice and that's the most I
could have asked out of my team."
