Box
Score
MIDDLEBURY, VT -- The Ephs were looking to bounce back from a
loss at home against the Panthers last night by pulling out a
victory on the road this evening, but the Middlebury offense was
again too much for Williams to overcome as they fell 6-2. The
defeat drops the Ephs to 5-7-2, with a 4-3-1 mark in the
conference, while Middlebury remains in third a point behind
Trinity with a NESCAC tally of 7-2-1 and a 9-4-1 mark overall. The
win also marks the 400th victory in the career of Panther head
coach Bill Mandigo.
Senior goalie Sara Plunkett had her hands full once again in this
match, facing 39 total shots, while the purple and gold rifled 11
at her senior counterpart Lani Wright. Each team took 5 penalties,
with the Ephs capitalizing on 2 to the Panther's 1 man-advantage
score.
In fact, it was Williams who lit the lamp first in this contest,
just minutes into the opening period. After drawing a body-checking
call, the Ephs set up their formation and sophomore forward Hannah
Systrom located fellow classmate Eliza Foster to give Williams the
lead and Foster her 2nd on the year. Both sides remained relatively
quiet for the remainder of the frame, with just 13 total shots
registered in those twenty minutes.
The Panthers final found an answer in the early going of the
second, when Lauren Greer beat Plunkett for her 6th notch on the
season. But after another Middlebury penalty, the Ephs again made
good on the advantage. This time, senior leader Taurey Taussig
drove it home to earn her 5th goal, assisted by sophomore winger
Sarah Herr and freshman forward Nicolle Perry at 6:07 to but
Williams back ahead 2-1.
Despite taking the lead twice in the first half of regulation, the
defense once again succumbed to the speed and the might of the
Panther attack, surrendering 3 unanswered goals within four minutes
of each other. Freshman Heather Marrison got things going at 10:42
with her first career score to level the count at 2. Then in a
fashion reminiscent of last night, the Panthers gathered control
off the subsequent center-ice faceoff and crashed the net to take
the lead back in a matter of seconds. The game-winning tally was
credited to sophomore forward Grace Waters, her 2nd score of the
year and 2nd point of the contest with Greer also picking up a 2nd
point on the assist. Lastly, sophomore Maggie Melberg nabbed her
2nd point of the night on the power-play three minutes later to put
the Panthers in front by two scores going into the final twenty
minutes of play.
As was the case in Williamstown 24 hours prior, the Ephwomen
were unable to amass the two scores necessary to come back, for
although they played an aggressive and disciplined period, they
could only get 2 pucks on goal. In the closing minutes, the
Panthers put matters to rest with an even-strength goal by senior
Ashley Bairos (her 5th) followed by an empty-net put-in by Melberg
to give her 3 points on the game, 8 goals on the year, and 5 points
on the weekend.
The Williams squad will try to regroup and do better at
Castleton this Tuesday, as they take on the 3-12-1 Spartans in
Spartan Arena at 7:00PM.
