Box
Score
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA --The Williams College Ephs (5-5-2) battled the
Norwich Cadets (10-2-3) to a 1-1 draw this evening on home ice in a
back-and-forth, defense struggle that saw 57 total shots, 39 of
which were credited to the purple and gold.
Eph head coach Marissa O'Neil admitted that while "a tie is
never fun," it did give the squad some "much-needed momentum
heading into a big conference weekend."
"We played with a sense of urgency for the entire sixty minutes,"
commended O'Neil, "and it was the kind of effort we need when we
play Middlebury this weekend for four big points in the
standings.... These past three games we've continued to
improve on things we worked out in practice and I thought that was
especially true tonight."
Indeed, the Ephwomen were pressing the issue right from the
opening faceoff tonight, consistently working the dump-and-chase
strategy to great effectiveness in the early going and tilting the
rink towards the Norwich defensive zone. The hard work payed
off 6:23 into the game, when a pesky Allison Page caused a turnover
in the right circle and snapped a wrister over the shoulder of
Cadet netminder Cindy Fortin to put Williams ahead. The lone
Eph score was the junior defenseman's 2nd of the season, with
sophomore winger Kristen Tubbs notching an assist on the play.
The Cadets appeared to ratchet up their gears in response to
this strike, pushing the flow of the action into Eph
territory. Their hard skating was rewarded at 13:11, as
senior forward Sophie Leclerc found a loose puck that had
ricocheted off a couple of sticks before finding her blade and the
open net to knot the count at 1. It would be the only goal
allowed by trusty senior goaltender Sara Plunkett in her 17-save
performance.
"Sara gave us some really good goaltending in key moments,"
affirmed O'Neil. "They are a fast team, aggresive
opponent...and they began to push back hard after that first
goal. We put them on their heels early, then they had us on
our heels.... The momentum shifted a lot in this one and I
thought we hung strong defensively and maintained our intensity
well."
This see-saw trend carried over right into the second period as
both teams failed to cash-in on a smattering of chances. An
ill-advised own-zone giveaway by Williams led to a 2-on-0 situation
in front of Plunkett, but sophomore Julie Fortier mishandled the
puck and squandered the moment. The Ephs answered almost
immediately with a deflection try on the other end that skipped
just wide of the far post.
Soon after, the home team drew the first power-play opportunity
of the contest, which turned into a 1 minute 13 second two-skater
advantage there after. Despite a flurry of quality drives
from multiple angles, Fortin bailed the Cadets out of trouble with
some challenging stops to keep the score level at 1.
After stifling a Cadet power-play to start the third, Williams
drew another man-advantage minutes later but could not get anything
going against a timely Norwich penalty kill. In the dwindling
minutes of the period, a huge save by Fortin on a wide-open,
point-blank attempt from sophomore Eliza Foster at the side of the
Norwich net evoked a long sigh from the Williamstown crowd.
In spite of strong, relatively disciplined efforts from both
sides, regulation ended with no change to the stalemated tally of
the initial frame. And neither crew was able to find the
finishing touch in the overtime period, as off-setting penalties
and stingy defense resulted in a 1-1 draw.
O'Neil offered further insight as to why she felt her players
didn't net the winning score: "Our transition game wasn't as
good as it has been the past few games, and Norwich's speed took
our pointmen out of the play in several situations. We like
to get all five skaters involved on offense but we were forced to
do a lot of work from the corner boards.... I think we came
close on a couple rebound chances and open looks but just couldn't
pit it away."
Williams is looking to bring the same level of competitive
spirit to the rink against the #6-ranked Panthers this upcoming
Friday in Williamstown at the Lansing-Chapman Rink. Game 1 of
this weekend home-away doubleheader is scheduled for a 7:00PM
start.
