Women have not given up a goal in 19205

Author: Seth Miran

For most teams, the home opener is a source of both excitement and nervousness. For this year's women's hockey team, it was far more the former than the latter as they rolled over Conn. College by a score of 6-0 on Friday night before holding off Amherst in a thrilling 1-0 contest on Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers started the scoring early against the Camels of Conn. College and did not let up until the game was well out of reach. After a Conn. College penalty a mere 22 seconds into the game, the Panthers cycled the puck nicely on the power play before Ashley Bairos '10 lit the lamp at the 1:08 mark for a 1-0 lead. The rest of the first period was quiet until Bairos notched her second power play goal of the game with 3:10 remaining, this time rifling a slapshot past Camel keeper Lauren Mellen from the left point.

Middlebury came out firing in the second period, adding three more goals on shots from the slot. Shannon Sylvester '07 tallied the first, firing home a rebound 4:26 into the period. A wide-open Randi Dumont '09 followed three minutes later with a goal of her own from in front of the crease off of a beautiful feed from Clare Zutz '10 from behind the net. Erika Nakamura '09 closed out the scoring in the second period, following her own rebound.

The Panthers continued to pepper Mellen with shots in the third period. Jess Bennett '10 scored the last goal of the night, the first of her career, sliding a loose puck into the open half of the net with 6:52 remaining in the game.

Angie Todd '08 had 10 saves in the shutout as Middlebury outshot Conn. College 38-10.

Facing a more formidable foe the following afternoon, Middlebury was forced to rely far more upon a strong defensive effort against Amherst. In a game that was full of penalties - 16 in total for the teams combined - the Panthers made one of them count as Shannon Sylvester '07 scored the game's lone goal on the team's second power play of the game. Shannon Tarrant '07 fed the puck to Annmarie Cellino '09, who fired a wrist shot on net. Sylvester hammered home the rebound to put the Panthers up 1-0 at the 10:27 mark of the first period.

Middlebury goaltender Lani Wright '10 shone brightest of all against the Lord Jeffs, making some huge stops at pivotal points in the game.

"I was excited and nervous at the same time because it was my first home game," said Wright. "But I have a great team in front of me and I have total confidence in my defensemen so after the first couple of shots, I was calm."

Tarrant was aware of this poise in her goalie as the game wore on, saying that it was "exciting and reassuring for everyone out there to see her so calm and confident."

Although that lead would hold for the rest of the game, it was by no means an easy task for the Middlebury defense to withstand multiple Amherst barrages.

The Lord Jeffs had some bad luck of their own on their 5-on-3 power play a few minutes later in the second period as Anna MacLean hit the post with her first shot before having her rebound swallowed up on an impressive save by Wright.

Amherst came back with even greater intensity and almost all of the momentum in the final period. Wright came up with a number of crucial saves. Unable to crack Wright and the defense, Amherst called a timeout with 1:26 remaining in the game to draw up a strategy for pulling goalie Krystyn Elek. They did just that 20 seconds later, but were unable to score. A crucial face-off win by Emily McNamara '07, with 16 seconds remaining, sealed the victory for the Panthers.