Women’s Hockey Holds Off Lord Jeffs to Lead NESCAC

In a matchup between the NESCAC’s top seeds, the Middlebury women’s hockey team traveled to Amherst, Mass. where the second-ranked Panthers gained a crucial advantage in conference play over the ninth-ranked Lord Jeffs, stealing a 2-1 win in the first game of the doubleheader before drawing 5-5 in the second leg.

In the series opener on Friday, Jan. 17, the Panthers got out to an early first-period lead as Jennifer Krakower ’14 beat Amherst goaltender Kerri Stuart for her second goal of the game on a one-timer off a feed from Carly Watson ’17 on the point. Sara Ugalde ’14 assisted on the play at the 18:37 mark as the Panthers scored their 17th power-play goal of the season — one of four advantage goals on the weekend for head coach Bill Mandigo’s team.

“Our power play overall has been working a lot better,” Krakower said. “We’re passing the puck much quicker and coach Mandigo had told us to work on moving the puck more and that helped.”

Amherst answered shortly after, as Tori Salmon beat  goalie Annabelle Jones ’15 for her seventh goal of the season, drawing the Lord Jeffs level 19 seconds into the second period of play.

Middlebury took the lead for good 13 minutes later as the Panthers converted their second power-play opportunity in three tries after Amherst’s Eileen Harris was penalized for hooking. The Panthers wasted little time, scoring 14 seconds after the restart, as Madeline Joyce ’14 netted the second goal of her season, while Pam Schulman ’17 and Katie Mandigo ’16 registered assists.

The Panthers killed off three penalties over the game’s final 26:13 and endured 1:07 of empty net from the Lord Jeffs as Jones made a number of point-blank saves — and 33 overall — in Middlebury’s 2-1 victory.

With poll position in the conference, the Panthers returned the next day needing just a draw to maintain their edge over Amherst. Middlebury accomplished that in a wild, 10-goal game, in which the Panthers and Lord Jeffs combined for six third-period goals before a scoreless overtime period ended the game knotted at five apiece.

After registering Amherst’s lone goal in the loss the night before, Salmons, the NESCAC’s second-leading goal scorer, decimated the Panthers, compiling a hat trick and assisting on a fourth goal to power her team’s offense. On the other end, five different players scored goals for Middlebury — and five more registered points — as the Panthers and Lord Jeffs traded goals, with neither team leading by more than a goal at any point.

Ugalde started the scoring for Middlebury, breaking the ice just 46 seconds into the game off an assist from Katie Sullivan ’15, who leads the conference with 16 points through 12 games. The Panthers have received balanced scoring — five of the top 19 point scorers in the conference don the navy and white of Middlebury — all season long and Saturday was no exception.

“We’ve always been a team, not of all-stars, but of collective players who work really well together, which gives us an advantage over other teams,” said Emily Fluke ’15, one of Middlebury’s five goal scorers. “I think that contributes to why we have so many people who can step up at different moments because we’re not reliant on one person at any moment and that’s why we can have so many different people score goals.”

After Salmon scored and assisted a pair of goals to give Amherst a 2-1 lead midway through the second period, Krakower tied the game at two with her third goal of the game off an assist from Watson, a first-year defender who leads the NESCAC with 10 assists this season.

Tied at two after the first 40 minutes of play, Amherst and Middlebury poured in six goals over the next 20 minutes with Salmon starting the third-period barrage 17 seconds after the opening face-off. 3:26 later, Amherst’s leading scorer was whistled for tripping and the Panthers took advantage as Fluke scored 16 seconds into the power play.

Less than a minute after killing off a Middlebury power play, Amherst surrendered another goal, this time at the hands of Mackenzie Martin ’15, who was assisted by Anna Van Kula ’16 and Jane Freda ’17.

Amherst equalized just over two minutes later, but surrendered the lead even faster as Schulman re-took the lead for her team 22 seconds later off a feed from Julia Wardwell ’16 with 8:15 left to play.

Middlebury managed to maintain the advantage for nearly five minutes of play before Salmon struck again, besting Jones for the third time in the game to tie things at five apiece with 3:22 left.

Despite a couple of frenetic moments over the final 3:22 of regulation and overtime, neither team managed to find a game-winning goal and the Panthers  came away with a 5-5 tie and a pair of strong results on the road.

“It’s nice to come away from the weekend with three points,” Joyce said. “We have a lot to work on from the weekend and it’s more of a learning process as a team for the next chapter of our season. We’re going to face them again, I’m sure so we have to come prepared.”

Middlebury, whose lone loss on the season came nearly two months ago to undefeated Plattsburgh, improved to 10-1-2 on the season and 6-0-2 in conference. The Panthers host Bowdoin (8-5-1, 3-2-1 in NESCAC) for a two-day doubleheader, Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25.