Box Score Middlebury, VT – Two goals in the first period, one in the second, and three more in the third gave Middlebury (19-0/13-0 NESCAC) the win over the Ephs (11-9/7-8 NESCAC) despite Williams' goal in the third period.
Williams faced Middlebury with a leaner lineup than usual. "That's kind of been the theme for the whole 2022 portion of the season has been adjusting to what we have" said Head Coach Meghan Gillis. However, "everyone who played was giving their best effort."
At 6:08, Middlebury circled behind the net on the backhand and fed Eva Hendrickson, who rocketed a shot at goalie Amanda Lackmann. The Panthers collected the rebound and Jordan Hower skated to the top of the dot and fed a wrister toward the net. Caroline Cutter camped out beside Williams Lackmann and tipped it behind her pads, giving the Panthers the 1-0 edge.
Middlebury also received the first power play of the night for a tripping by Quinn Dawson at 9:46. With an extra skater, the Panthers set up in their offensive zone and passed the puck around the horn. Middlebury fired some shots off, but the Williams penalty kill "did a great job blocking a lot of shots" and cleared the puck out and to get back to even strength, Gillis mentioned.
The Panthers kept the puck moving in the Williams end. Sabrina Kim whistled off a shot through the slot, but it hit the post. Then, Claudia Vera took an attempt, but CC Wallin didn;t give her much opportunity
In the Ephs offensive end, Georgia Keogh fired a couple shots off from the point, but Middlebury blocked up her look toward goal with the puck bouncing off a Panther skate and getting stuck in the corner. With one minute to go in the period, Maddie Zack soared the puck toward goal from the top of the circle and Maddie Tix tipped it right over the crossbar for a close attempt.
Coming into the second period, Middlebury didn't stop the pressure on the Ephs and looked to get shots on net. Williams managed to clear the puck out and shut down their attempts. After picking up the puck at neutral ice, Robin Kitazono tried to split her defenders and charged through the shot. She managed to get a shot off but her momentum was slowed by two Panthers.
Stirring things up in the offensive zone, Claudia Vira was sent to the box at 6:54 gave Williams a skater advantage. Robin Kitazono skated coast-to-coast and ripped a shot on Sophia Merageas, but Merageas was ready for the attempt. Seconds after going back to even strength, Katie Hargrave caught a tripping penalty giving the Ephs a second look at the power play at 9:52. Brynn Puppe navigated through the offensive zone and looked for a chance at the left circle, but was tied up before she got the shot off.
Back at even strength, the Panthers found another scoring opportunity. Middlebury created pressure in front of the net. Kate Dudley backed up a missed pass from intended for Vitari and fired it home into the left corner at 14:14 to make it 2-0.
With 53 seconds to go the Panthers struck again to go up 3-0. Julia Johnson took a cross ice wrist shot from the point through traffic beating Lackmann on her left side.
Going into the third period, "we had gotten some good chances, even though we had not gotten a lot of shots, so we were trying to get more pucks to net" explained Gillis.
A minute and two seconds into the third, Middlebury made it 4-0. A scrum in front of the net crowded Lackmann's vision. The Panthers took two attempts at it with Lackmmann shutting them down, but a rebound bounced to the right of the net and Maddie Bayard lifted it above her pad.
A hooking penalty on Quinn Dawson gave the Panthers another chance on the power play. The Panthers organized at the bpint. Cat Appleyard sent a shot flying through the slot. Eva Hendrickson found her rebound in front of the net and sent it home, extending their lead to 5-0 at 3:34.
Midway through the period, Brynn Puppe charged in from the right side and put the puck behind Merageas for the Ephs first goal of the night cutting Middlebury's 5-1 lead at 8:30.
The Panthers went numbers up after a tripping penalty on CC Wallin. With 55 seconds to go in the game, Cece Ziegler sent a pass to the left circle where Cat Appleyard took a cross ice shot sending it past Lackmann for her second power play goal of the night and securing their 6-1 win.
On the night, Williams was outshot by Middlebury 15-40. In net, Amanda Lackmann recorded her first collegiate start and turned away 34 Middlebury attempts. Goalkeeper Sophia Merageas stopped 14 Eph shots.
The Ephs will play Worcester State on Monday night, February 21st at 6pm in Lansing Chapman Rink.
