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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- Suffice it to say that
today's senior day victory was an emotional win for the women's
hockey program at Williams, for not only did the Ephwomen earn
hosting rights for the upcoming quarterfinal rematch against the
Polar Bears, but they also finished over the .500 mark for the
first time since the 2005-06 season with an overall posting of
12-10-2 (9-6-1 in the conference). Bowdoin falls into the 5th
seed a place behind the cows with a NESCAC record of 8-7-1 and an
even overall season slate of 11-11-2.
It was satisfying afternoon for rookie head coach Marissa
O'Neil, as well as the four honored seniors: forward Tourey Taussig
(7 goals, 12 assists, 48 career points), who O'Neil said was
"incredible on the forecheck in this game; tri-captain Tracey
Ferriter (11 goals, 8 assists, and an astonishing 72 career
points), who tied Taussig for the team lead in points with the
first score and the game-winner for her team; Sara Plunkett (2.17
GAA, .927 save percentage, and 7 shutouts with a 2.43 career GAA),
who denied 25 attempts from a fiesty Bowdoin offense; and
defenseman Kait O'Brien (3 power-play goals, 3 assists, and 37
career points), who has been one of the most curcial physical
presences for the purple and gold all season long and especially
this afternoon. It was the first winning season for this
quartet and their advocating parents, who greeted each of them with
roses prior to the opening faceoff.
“Right on the very first shift, we put
our four seniors out on the ice together and they created a scoring
opportunity within the opening ten seconds of the game,”
remarked O'Neil, “and that pretty much set the tone of
the game for us right off the bat.”
The Ephs certainly appeared to be
outpossessing the Polar Bears and generating quality chances more
consistently in the initial minutes of play, but surprisingly it
was Bowdoin who jumped ahead first, converting a pretty one-time
goal late in the period. Junior forward Jill
Campbell feed a firm pass from the corner boards to a streaking
Katherine Pokrass, who knocked in her 4th of the year at 16:55 to
momentarily silence an enthusiastic Eph crowd.
But they would have reason to cheer soon
enough, as a subsequent penalty on the Polar Bears would allow the
Williams power-play, which has been red hot as of late, a chance to
respond. Ferriter would do just that for
Williams when she pounced on a loose puck and fired it through the
pads of freshman goaltender Kayla Lessard to even things back up at
1.
“We knew it was going to be all tall
task to contain this Bowdoin team, especially coming off an
exciting win over Middlebury last night,” recognized
O'Neil. “The key for us was the we
played the game one period at a time…as a twenty-minute
game, a forty-minute game, and then a sixty-minute
game. Our intensity and focus was there
throughout.”
The first-year coach smiled and added,
“The fact that the officiating was more relaxed in this game
was helpful as well."
Indeed, the linesmen were much less strict in
this affair than they had been in the last three games at Lansing
Chapman rink (just six penalty calls in all and only one charged to
Williams), and this seemed to work in favor of an Eph power-play
that has been cashing in at a high percentage.
After Campbell netted her eighth of the year to reclaim the lead
for the Polar Bears, Williams went to work again on special teams
shortly after and produced almost a carbon copy of the back-to-back
goal sequence of the opening frame. This time it
was sophomore Eliza Foster one-timing a touch pass from classmate
Hannah Systrom that leveled the count at 11:47of the middle period,
and gave Foster her 5th notch of the season and to go
with the assist on the previous score by Ferriter.
Heading into the last twenty minutes of
regulation, the atmosphere was that of what you would expect of a
senior day stalemate. The crowd stood on edge
and reacted passionately to every scoring chance and every
perceived penalty on both sides of the arena.
The Polar Bears, who had hit the crossbar towards the end of the
prior period, continued to send pucks to the net in the final
frame, hitting the pipes again in the beginning minutes on
deflected shot.
However, it would be the heroic actions of the
veteran Ferriter that resolved matters at 8:17 with the
game-winner. Her 72nd career point
came off Systrom's toss into the far corner, which the
tri-captain snatched up and drove with to side of the net, muscling
a forehand rocket past Lessard to tally up her team-leading
11th goal this season. From that
blue-line and front-of-the-net stands to keep Bowdoin out of
scoring distance. The star netminder turned
aside all 9 Polar Bear shots in the period, as Williams shutdown
the attack and claimed the 3-2 victory in regulation, much to the
delight of parents and spectators.
“It was an unbelievable weekend for
us,” concluded O'Neil. “These
girls came into this rink knowing what they wanted and they went
out and took it…. Having home ice and the
support of the fans will be huge for us next weekend, especially
since we know these guys will be out for blood against us.”
O'Neil and the Ephwomen must repeat
their success over her alma mater a second time this coming
Saturday, a NESCAC tournament contest that promises to be highly
competitive and highly entertaining. The chaos
ensues at 1:00PM at the Lansing Chapman Rink in Williamstown, where
both programs' seasons will be on the line.
