PINEVALLEY, NY - Williams dropped their second game of the weekend, falling to top-10 ranked Elmira Sunday afternoon at the Murray Athletics Center. The Ephs had no answers to the dominant opposing offense, which recorded 51 total shots to the Ephs' 23.
The Eagles came out firing and got on the board early with a powerplay goal at the 5:54 mark in the opening frame. It was Lindsay Mitchell who capitalized on their man-up opportunity with help from teammates Ashley Ryan and Brooke Wilgosh. Mitchell's goal would be the one tally of the period.
The second period proved to be a stalemate for a while, until just over 13 minutes in when the Ephs took advantage of a man-up situation and retaliated with an equalizer. Andree Heller (Toronto, ON) managed to redirect Ally Ensor's (Sugarland, TX) shot past Eagle's goalie Lauren Sullivan to knot the score up at 1-1.
But it was Elmira who then took control of the middle frame, producing an offensive onslaught as evidenced by their 21 shots on goal to Williams' 5. The Eagles managed to find the back of the net late at the 17:49 mark with Cassidy Delainey's goal, aided by Wilgosh and Amber Tirrir.
Elmira took advantage of this small lead and never looked back. Feeding off of Delainey's tally, the Eagle offense marched into the third frame and had Williams goalie Chloe Billadeau (Chaska, MN) under siege from the start.
The Elmira offensive tirade began after 4 minutes of play, with Haley Welch's score off a pass from teammate Brianna Salstone. The Eagles quickly upped their lead again, as Delainey allowed Erin Weston to register another goal within the next 13 seconds, putting the score at 4-1.
The Eagles added one final goal with 6 minutes remaining in the game. Tori Charron tipped the puck past Billadeau to finalize the score at 5-1. Mitchell and Lauren Campbell tallied assists on the score.
Sullivan finished the game with 22 stops, while Billadeau turned away 46 shots.
Despite the loss, head coach Megan Gillis was encouraged after the game, stating, "The girls played really tough. We were 2-1 going into the 3rd period against a top-10 ranked team. It was definitely the best effort of the year so far."
Williams will return to play January 4, when they travel to Plymouth St. The action will begin at 2:30pm. In looking ahead, Gillis stated, "We will continue to work on building a stronger and more consistent defense, and keep focusing on getting pucks to the net."
