Box Score WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — The Williams College women's hockey (8-6-0) team lost to the 5th ranked Elmira College Eagles (10-2-2) 6-1 tonight. Sophomore Katie Granato (Naperville, IL) scored the game-winning goal at 18:23 in the first period.
Elmira took the lead at 6:19 in the first frame. Granato laid it over to sophomore Maddie Evangelous (Hudson, MA), who got the puck past Williams goalie Marissa Anderson (East Falmouth, MA) to make it 1-0. It was Evangelous' sixth goal of the season.
The Ephs went on the power play at 12:48, but were unable to convert with the one-man advantage.
However, within a minute of the Eagles penalty kill, the Ephs managed to tie up the game 1-1 with a shorthanded goal by senior Chelsey Stevenson (Tilbury, ONT).
The Eagles went on the power play at 15:04, and were controlling play in the Williams end. However Stevenson fought hard to win the puck off an Elmira forward. Skating the length of the ice with Elmira's defensemen trailing her, Stevenson managed to skate ahead of the two players, and fake out senior goalie Kyle Nelson (Chicago, IL) to score the goal for the Ephs.
Williams went on the power play at 17:38, but the Eagles did a good job converting defensive plays to offensive ones — at 18:23 Granato scored an unassisted goal off a top-shelf shot to give Elmira a 2-1 lead.
Elmira came out on fire in the second period, scoring four goals throughout the period to go up 6-1 against Williams.
Evangelous scored her second goal of the night at 3:02, beating Anderson with a goal through her five-hole. Under two minutes later, sophomore Shannon Strawinski (Toms Rivers, NJ) scored a power play goal. Sophomore Kristin Chivers (Antioch, IL) took a shot from the middle of the circle that Strawinski then tipped in to make it 4-1 for Elmira.
At 11:13, Strawinski scored her second goal of the night. Going on a partial breakaway she scored off a top-shelf shot.
A minute and a half later, Evangelous scored her third goal of the night off a shot from the point. Screened by an Elmira forward, Anderson was unable to see Evangelous' shot.
With 3:30 seconds left in the second period, Williams had a scoring opportunity when senior captain Hanna Beattie (Whitehouse Station, NJ) took a shot from the point. However Nelson stayed tough between the posts and stopped Beattie's shot, deflecting it with her blocker.
"Our forecheck looked good for the rest of the second period and for the entirety of the third period," commented Williams head coach Meghan Gillis, "we showed great team character by continuing to fight."
The Ephs stayed with the Eagles throughout the final frame, earning two penalty kills at 6:52 and 16:18.
Williams goalie Christina Cleroux (New Glascow, NS) stayed tough between the pipes, making 10 saves.
"I think that playing a top ranked team helped us get ready to play Connecticut College on Friday. They're a good team who has been ranked on and off throughout the season."
The Ephs face off against Connecticut at Dayton Arena. The puck drops at 7pm.
