NEW LONDON, CT— In head coach Joey Lye's first game at the helm, the Williams College women's hockey team fell to Connecticut College, 4-2. The Ephs held the advantage through the first period, but succumbed to 3 unanswered Camels goals in the 2nd frame.
While Conn outshot Williams 18-9 in the first period, the Ephs managed to convert one of their attempts to end the opening frame with the 1-0 lead. Kristen Tubbs scored the Ephs' first goal of the season on a great hustle play, in which she outskated a Camels defenseman to set up a breakaway, then slipping the puck past sophomore netminder Amy Leichliter with 4:17 to play in the period.
However, the middle frame presented the Camels with the opportunity to lead, with a quick barrage of Conn goals in the span of 3:47 making the score 3-1 in their favor to end the period. Only 5:40 into the frame, the Camels' Courtney Dumont evened the score to 1-1 off a pass from Olivia Farrell. After a penalty on Nicolle Perry, the Camels struck again less than 3 minutes later when Farrell tallied a goal of her own on the powerplay, with help from Dumont and Samantha Schuffenecker.
With the Camels holding the 2-1 advantage, Ephs senior Jacqueline Berglass had the opportunity to equalize the score on a penalty shot, but was denied by Leichliter. Ariel DiPasquale brought the score to 3-1 in favor of Conn, picking up a loose rebound and slipping the puck past Eph goalie Catherine Tremble. Williams, however, would not go down without a fight. Nicolle Perry notched her first goal of the season on a powerplay goal with 9:27 to play in the middle period, with help from Sarah Herr. The Ephs ended the frame in a 3-2 deficit, despite being outshot 22-10.
The third period featured strong goaltending from the Ephs' Tremble and her counterpart Leichliter. Williams' Sam Weinstein broke behind the Camels' defense for a 1-on-1 against Leichliter, but Conn's sophomore netminder left her crease and managed to send the puck beyond Weinstein's reach to deny the attempt. Dumont tallied her second goal of the game with 9:27 to play in the contest on an unassisted shot from the slot, giving the Camels the final 4-2 edge.
Both keepers received a fair amount of action. Tremble turned away 56 out of 60 shots, while Leichliter stopped 32 attempts. The Ephs' record sits at 0-1 (0-1 NESCAC), while the Camels' win brings them to 1-0 (1-0 NESCAC).
Despite being thwarted in their inaugural game of the 2010-2011 season, Coach Lye was proud of her team's resilience. "We showed streaks of great intensity, and in those times we forechecked well, relaxed and played hard."
Lye was optimistic that the Ephs could utilize the lessons they learned from tonight's contest against the Hamilton Continentals. "We showed ourselves how hard we can work, and we need to hold this intensity for 60 minutes tomorrow."
The Ephs will have a chance to rebound tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Hamilton College. The puck drops at 3 pm.
