Women's hockey shines at home

Author: Andrew Deloach

The Middlebury women's hockey team secured two more wins last weekend to finish the regular season with a 16-3-4 record. On Friday, Feb. 20, the women defeated Wesleyan (2-21-1) by a score of 7-2. The Panthers kept up their impressive skating as they ousted Hamilton (9-13-2) on Saturday with a 4-1 final.

The Middlebury women continue to hassle opposing goalies. Friday night's victim was Wesleyan's Rachel Stemerman. She faced an offensive barrage that has been a trademark of the Panthers this season. Friday was no different as Middlebury outshot the Cardinals 48-11. On the season, the Panthers have outshot their opponents 855-471.

Julia Ireland '11 began the scoring by dumping in a loose puck in front of the net with 5 minutes remaining in the first period. Molly Vitt '09 added a goal with 22 seconds left in the first by assisting a shot fired by Nora Bergman '11.

In the second period, Middlebury extended the lead to 3-0 when Anna McNally '11 netted her ninth goal of the season. Not to be outdone, senior Erika Nakamura scored her ninth goal of the season just 53 seconds later, increasing the lead to 4-0. As the period wound down, Wesleyan got back into the game with a goal from Sena Ito, followed by another from Molly Friedman. The period came to a close with the Cardinals trailing by a 4-2 margin.

That was as close as the Cardinals would come, as Middlebury took over in the third period. Maggie Melberg '12 scored three minutes into the period. Heather McCormack '10 scored another insurance goal for the Panthers late in the period. Nakamura concluded the scoring with a power play goal to send the Cardinals home with a 7-2 loss.

On Saturday, Middlebury concluded their regular season on a high note with 4-1 win over Hamilton. The Panthers continued to control games with their high powered offense, tough defense and solid goalkeeping that have been cornerstones of their success this season. As usual, the woman terrorized the opposing goaltender, out-shooting Hamilton 47-8.

For the second game in a row, the Panthers scored with just seconds remaining in the first period. McCormack put Middlebury in the lead with a short handed goal with 18 seconds left in the first off of a great pass from Ashley Bairos '10.

In the second period, the Panthers controlled play from start to finish, only allowing the Continentals one shot while firing 20 of their own. Ireland scored a goal to increase the lead to 2-0. Just 12 seconds later, Vitt netted a loose puck to give the Panthers a 3-0 advantage.

In the third period, Grave Waters '12 added an insurance goal to increase the lead to 4-0. The Continentals were finally able to get a puck in the net when Stephanie Miguel scored her 21st goal of the season late in the game. But Hamilton was unable to pick up any more goals and the game ended with a 4-1 final score.

"We made a lot of changes this past week in practice, but the team adapted well and we had a successful weekend," said Bairos. "Most of all, [the wins] were a great way to end the regular season for our four seniors. Postseason is always exciting for us and I think it has definitely reenergized our team and will help fuel us for these next few weeks."

"It was a solid weekend," added Ireland.

The Panthers begin the NESCAC tournament as the number two seed and will host Williams (8-15-1) this Saturday at 4:00 pm in Kenyon Arena.