Middlebury, VT- The Williams College Ephs (12-12-1, 5-10-1 NESCAC) faced the Middlebury College Panthers (19-5-1, 10-5-1 NESCAC) in the first round of the NESCAC Women's Ice Hockey Tournament earlier today. The Ephs had faced Middlebury twice during the regular season, splitting the season series 1-1, today the Ephs fell short to the third seeded Panthers in overtime by a score of 2-1.
By the Numbers
- The Ephs recorded 33 shots on goal, while the Panthers had 32.
- The Ephs were 0/0 on the power play while the Panthers were 1/2.
- Erin Pye recorded 31 saves in net.
Game Recap
- The Panthers came out of the gates strong, with a boisterious home crowd vocalizing their support. While the Panthers opened the game dominating the shot totals, junior goaltender Erin Pye stood strong in net, turning away every puck that came her way.
- As the first period reached its last minutes, the Ephs began to show more life. First-year forward Annie Gallagher was able to fire a shot on net, rebound her own shot and fire off another attempt before the Panthers took control of the puck. The first period ended deadlocked at 0 with both sides playing terrific hockey.
- The second period began with the Panthers taking control offensively, but the tides turned, and it was all Ephs: for almost ten whole minutes, the Ephs did not allow the Panthers to take a shot, while they were able to set up a number of good looks for their own offense.
- A turning point arrived at the end of the second period, with the Panthers going onto the power play. Pye excelled, ensuring the game remained at 0-0, but another Eph penalty sent the Panthers into the intermission on the power play (19:22).
- An action-packed third period began with a Panthers power play goal off a face-off in their offensive zone to take a 1-0 lead (0:50).
- The Ephs responded with a noticeable spike in energy, resulting in a number of solid looks in their offensive zone. Paired with an aggressive forecheck as the game clock began to wind down, the Ephs were able to finally capitalize on their chances. Junior defenseman Claire Murphy fired a slap shot from the blue line that deflected off of the Lucie Bond's stick and into the net to tie the game at 1-1 (18:34).
- Regulation ended quietly and both teams left the ice with their focus turned to overtime.
- The Panthers caused a turnover that they were able to capitalize on, with sophomore defenseman Callia Ferraris firing a pass over to Kylie Quinlan for the one-timer goal (5:07), ending the game as a 2-1 OT loss for the Ephs.
Following the game, Eph head coach Meghan Gillis stated, "The team played great tonight. The third period was one of complete effort and I'm so happy they were able to score to tie it up and send the game to overtime. I want to thank the seniors and their families for everything they've done for the program."
