Middlebury Earns 4-2 Victory Over Colby in Women's Ice Hockey Semifinals
Courtesy Amherst Sports Information
AMHERST, Mass. – The second-seeded Middlebury College women’s ice hockey team skated to a 4-2 win over fourth-seeded Colby College in the second NESCAC Championship semifinal game this afternoon at Orr Rink. With the victory, the Panthers punched a ticket to face the top-seed and host Amherst Lord Jeffs in tomorrow’s title game at 2:00 p.m.
The first period was dominated by the Panthers, who out-shot the White Mules by a 33-13 edge. Despite the high number of shots, Middlebury held just a 13-7 edge in shots on goal. The only goal of the first period came just before the mid-point of the frame, as Annmarie Cellino (West Seneca, N.Y.) found herself wide open in the slot for slap shot into an empty net. Colby netminder Lacey Brown (Freeport, Maine) made a pair of saves that drew her out to the right of the crease, before a final rebound gave Cellino an open net to bang home. Assists on the game’s opening score were awarded to Grace Waters (Snyder, N.Y.) and Anna McNally (St. Paul, Minn.).
Colby came out of the first intermission with a renewed fire, and found an equalizer just 3:05 into the frame. The White Mules score came off the stick of junior forward Andrea Fuwa (Wilmette, Ill.), with an assist coming from Laura Anning (Ingramport, Nova Scotia). Fuwa’s score was on a deep slap shot through traffic from straight away.
The top-ranked Middlebury offense was awaken by the Colby score, and immediately put heavy pressure on Brown. After a few close calls, the Panthers regained the lead on a score with 13 minutes to play. Off a nice feed from Randi Dumont (Greene, Maine), Heidi Woodworth (Princeton, N.J.) skated through the slot for a top-shelve score to put Middlebury up 2-1.
The Panthers needed only five more minutes before opening up a 3-1 lead, this time on a score from Haley MacKeen (Antigonish, Nova Scotia). After a pair of saves by Brown, the puck was sitting in the crease just inches off the goal line for MacKeen to dive over the Colby goaltender and poke in.
After the early goal from Colby, Middlebury took control of the remainder of the second period, and after two stanzas held a dominating 40-14 edge in shots on goal. The third period started with more of the same from the Panthers, as they opened up a 4-1 margin with 12:27 to play in regulation. Junior Ashley Bairos (Van Nuyz, Calif.) scored the goal this time, with helpers going to Andrea Buono (Ashburnham, Mass.) and Heather McCormack (Rowley, Mass.).
Colby grabbed a score back with 6:21 to play in the third period shortly after coming off a 5-on-3 power play. The White Mules scored with just seconds left on one of the power-plays to cut the deficit to 4-2. The Colby goal was put home by Anning, on a feed from senior co-captain Colette Finley (St. Paul, Minn.).
Neither team scored another goal, as Middlebury closed out a 4-2 win to advance to their sixth NESCAC Championship game since 2003. Alexi Bloom (Highland Park, Ill.) finished with 18 saves in net for Middlebury, while Brown made an amazing 57 saves in the loss for Colby. The White Mules end their season with a 12-11-3 mark, while the Panthers improve to 18-3-4 with the win.
The Panthers will face top-seed Amherst in a re-match of the legendary triple-overtime thriller that was the 2007 title game. The Lord Jeffs took home the victory that day at Middlebury to win their program’s first of two straight NESCAC titles. Tomorrow’s championship is set to start at 2 p.m.
