Women remain No. 2 after two wins in Maine

Author: Seth Miran

What do Tiger Woods and the women's hockey team have in common? Both have recently taken advantage of the best that Sweden has to offer. For Tiger, that means a smokin' hot wife. For the women's hockey team, that meant taking on three Swedish club teams.

Returning home to the U.S. from a post-Christmas, seven-day transatlantic trip to Finland and the aforementioned Sweden, the women's hockey team appeared unaffected by a three- week layover during break. After the dreaded bus ride to Maine, the women notched a 5-2 victory over the Colby Mules followed by a 4-1 win over the Bowdoin Polar Bears the next afternoon.

Perhaps a little bit lethargic from the long bus ride earlier in the day, the Panthers struggled during the first period of Friday night's game versus Colby.

The Mules jumped out to a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the game and expanded their lead with another goal at the 17 minute mark of the first period. Yet, with just twenty seconds left in the first, the Panthers got on the board with an unassisted goal from Ashley Bairos '10.

Karen Levin '08 tied the game with a goal halfway through the second period. The Panthers finally pulled away halfway through the third period, with Lacey Farrell '08 notching the eventual game winner off an assist from Ellen Sargent '07.

Levin continued her solid play in the third as she notched her second goal of the game with two minutes remaining. Abby Kurtz-Phelan '07 closed out the scoring with an empty net goal at the 19:10 mark of the third period to cap the hard-fought 5-2 victory over Colby.

Discussing possible reasons for Middlebury's lethargic start against lesser ranked Colby, captain Shannon Sylvester '07 said, "Maybe we were looking ahead to Saturday's big match-up against Bowdoin a bit too much and consequently failed to start the Colby game with enough intensity. Colby has gotten better every time that we have played them and this game was a reminder that we cannot overlook any team."

With that big match-up upon them, the nation's second-ranked team was sluggish out of the gates as 10th-ranked Bowdoin took a 1-0 advantage on a wrap-around backhander by Meghan Gillis three minutes into the game.

As usual, however, the Panthers rebounded. They got on the board a mere 18 seconds into the second period with Kurtz-Phelan slapping home a pass from Sylvester. Erika Nakamura '09, a consistently strong contributor this year, put the Panthers ahead 2-1 eight minutes into the period on the power play.

Middlebury expanded upon its lead halfway through the third after Annmarie Cellino '09 intercepted a Polar Bear pass and buried it in the net for a shorthanded goal.

"There are a number of players on this team who are maturing and becoming more comfortable in different roles this year," said assistant captain Shannon Tarrant '07. "Cellino has been incredibly helpful to us both on and off the ice. "

Lani Wright '10 had 18 saves in net for the Panthers and Kurtz-Phelan sealed the victory, scoring her second empty-netter of the weekend.

Given the timing and circumstances, the victories over Colby and Bowdoin were invaluable.

"After returning from Europe on Tuesday and jumping right back into practice, it was especially important for us to start off the new year on the right foot," said assistant captain Emily McNamara '07.

"We worked hard all week and earned two hard-fought wins this weekend," she said. "Victories like this will only help us to grow and develop further as a team."

The top-ranked NESCAC team takes on last place Wesleyan at home on Friday and Saturday.