The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/30/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Caroline Monninger After stumbling in the opener, Shannon Tarrant and the Panthers are back. [Click to enlarge]

The women's hockey team has been awfully busy during the past two weeks as they won three of four games, including important NESCAC victories over Williams, Hamilton and Trinity. While most folks spent Thanksgiving break fading in and out of a food coma, the women's hockey team was hard at work on its quest to win a fourth consecutive national championship.

The Panthers kicked off their season two Saturdays ago at the Plattsburgh Tournament against the host and last year's NCAA runner-up. On this night, unfortunately, the 2006 runners-up beat the 2006 champions.

Entering the third period trailing 2-0, the Panthers were unable to get on the board until 10 minutes in when Molly Vitt '09 cut the Plattsburgh lead in half. Plattsburgh quickly put the game out of reach, however, tacking on two more goals to make it 4-1. Alison Graddock '07 added a goal with 2:50 remaining, but it was too little too late as the Panthers fell by a score of 4-2. Lani Wright '10 had 31 saves between the pipes in the losing effort.

Captain Shannon Sylvester '07 attributed the loss to a variety of factors. She noted that it was on this very same ice against this very same team that the Panthers won their third consecutive national championship last year. "Maybe all those factors created a build-up of too much nervous energy among our returning players. Also, Plattsburgh is a very talented team that lost very few players from last year, and you have to give them credit for the way that they played," she said.

Assistant Captain Shannon Tarrant '07 echoed Sylvester's sentiments. "We made mistakes that most teams make in their first game of the season," she said. "Against a team as skilled as Plattsburgh, it is difficult to win if you're not playing at your peak as a team."

The Panthers were able to come back the next day and eliminate many of those errors, beating a tough Williams squad 5-1. Passes were crisper, the skating was sharper and the shooting was deadlier.

Continued...

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