Middletown, CT --
Maddie Tix's scrappy goal in the first period,
Avery Dunn's short-handed second period goal, and
Ellia Chiang's third period empty-netter powered the Ephs (11-7/8-6 NESCAC) over the Wesleyan Cardinals (7-10/3-9 NESCAC) 3-1.
Coming off last night's tight contest, both teams struggled to find their groove in the early minutes. The first few minutes were filled with up and down action, but no dangerous attempts. The tone started to change when Wesleyan's Chiara Christie was sent to the box for high-sticking. Twenty seconds into the power play,
Maddie Tix took a shot at goalie Rei Halloran. Four Williams skaters scrambled to the net pouncing on the rebound. Tix found her own rebound and sent it home giving Williams an early 1-0 at 8:16.
Midway through the period, the Ephs got a second turn at the power play when the Cardinals' Brooke Keough was called for high-sticking. Wesleyan's Ally Detre took a shorthanded chance early in the power play, but Eph goalie
Chloe Heiting made the easy save.
Williams had a two-man advantage when Chiara Christie was whistled for a slashing penalty.
CC Wallin fired the puck up to the slot but couldn't connect with Tix flying down the right wing. With seven seconds left to go on the Williams power play, Eph defender
Delaney Szlezyngier
was sent off for holding.
With Wesleyan numbers up,
Avery Dunn received a pass at the blue line and broke away from her defender. She skated down the right side and ripped a shot into the bottom left corner for a short-handed goal at 11:43 doubling the Williams lead, 2-0.
Eph head coach
Meghan Gillis noted, "
Avery Dunn stepped up today and was the leader. She had a monster game for us when we needed it the most."
The Ephs killed off the Cardinals' power play, but Wesleyan caught another power play opportunity when
Brynn Puppe was called for interference in the defensive zone. The Williams penalty kill again hung in, making it difficult for the Cardinals to create traffic in front of Heiting.
After a series of shots on Heiting, the Cardinals swarmed the puck forcing Heiting to drop to the ice to cover the puck. A penalty was called against
Maddie Zack giving Wesleyan another chance at the 5-on-4 . With only a 1:28 to go in the period, Mareid Kennedy organized at the point and passed to Christina Tournas at the top of the right circle who sent it through traffic and into the net putting the Cardinals on the scoreboard 2-1.
Early in the third period,
Chloe Heiting locked up the net again. The Cardinals' Sam Deleo fired a shot through chaos, but Heiting swiftly slid to the left post to deflect the shot. When Tournas recovered the puck and navigated through traffic to get to the net, Heiting sprawled to the ice to cover the puck up.
At 7:30, a tripping call on Jenna Stevens cave Williams another 5-on-4. Off the draw, Puppe rocketed a shot at Halloran, but it was deflected off her pads.
CC Wallin rushed up the right wing and ushered a puck to Tix who rushed toward the slot, but she couldn't hold onto the puck for a quick shot.
Wesleyan looked to equalize on a power play opportunity when
Maddie Tix was called for checking. Just as the Ephs killed off Wesleyan's power play, Wesleyan's Bridget Cornell was sent to the box putting the Ephs on the power play with 5:30 to go in the game. Quin Dawson sailed one wide and Hill was blocked up by Christie.
The Cardinals pulled Halloran with three minutes to go, but Heiting was up to the task, handling the pressure well and remaining calm when shots were fired her way. "Chloe stood on her head and made two amazing saves there to preserve the win," Gillis said.
Racing to the empty net,
Ellia Chiang worked her way to the slot and received
Christina Halloran's pass from the goal line to score at 19:32 securing the Ephs 3-1 win.
Williams and Wesleyan mirrored each other's stats, with the Ephs tallying 29 shots on goal and the Cardinals recording 31.
Chloe Heiting's impressive goaltending helped to give Williams the victory. She stopped 30 shots compared to Rei Halloran's 26 saves.
The Ephs will return to action when they host Middlebury Lansing-Chapman Rink Friday, February 11
th at 7pm.
