Williamstown, MA – After Colby's goal early in the first period, the Ephs were unable to find the back of the net to respond, leaving Williams scoreless in their first game of the season.
In the first period, Colby scored early with a goal by McKinley Karpa assisted by Madi Aumann four and a half minutes into the period. The Ephs offense revved up after the Colby goal, with several testing shots, but they were not able to notch the equalizer.
The Ephs kept up their offensive pressure on Colby in the second period and
Meghan Halloran's shot seven seconds into the period was denied by Mules netminder Nina Prunster. However, Colby's defense pressuring up made it challenging for the Ephs to get quality shots on goal.
Eph head coach
Meghan Gillis felt that her team "pushed back and played a lot better in the second period more possession and had some chances, but just couldn't capitalize." Williams out shot Colby in the second period 16 to 8, but the Mules took their 1-0 lead into the second break.
After a slashing call on Colby, Williams had the opportunity with a two-man advantage, playing five on three. Still, the Ephs remained scoreless. With intensity building from the power plays, Williams kept it in the offensive zone with close shots from Halloran,
Paige Galle,
Kelly McCarthy and
Maddie Tix.
Fighting until the end of the second period, the Ephs looked for an opportunity to score, with
CC Wallin coming close with a shot with but eight seconds left in the period.
Despite the score, the game was a competitive one. "It was a 1-0 game going into the third. We were right there" Gillis said.
With six minutes to go in the game, Colby's Lexi Cafario shot on
Chloe Heiting '22. The puck deflected off Heiting's pads and found its way into the net to give Colby a 2-0 lead. With one minute left in the game, Williams pulled Heiting to get a man up on offense. After an offensive set from Williams, Colby's Bri Michaud-Nolan passed the puck out and down into Williams' defensive end where Lexi Cafiero tapped it in for an empty net goal, securing a 3-0 win for Colby.
On the night Williams registered 40 shots on goal, while the Mules had 31. Eph goalie
Chloe Heiting stopped 29 shots, while the Mules goalie Nina Prunster turned aside all 40 Eph shots to record a shutout.
Learning from tonight's game, Gillis noted, "It was great to get this under our belt and there's a lot of good things to work on going into tomorrow." She hopes her team will "create more movement, be more patient, and focus on making crisper passes."
"This comes with time and having those in game reps versus at practice and that is where we need to be going into tomorrow."
The Ephs will get a rematch against Colby tomorrow at 3:00 PM in Lansing Chapman Rink.
