Women's hockey quickly moves to 4-0 on the season

The women’s hockey team had much to be thankful for this weekend as the Panthers moved to 4-0 on the season, taking on two Maine teams in post-Thanksgiving play. Moving up a rank to third in Division III over the weekend, the women picked up a 4-3 win over Bowdoin on Saturday before bruising Colby with a 5-0 game on Sunday. Appropriately, the squad remains behind its perennial rivals in the standings — namely, Amherst and SUNY Plattsburgh. Though the rankings reveal no surprises, it looks like this winter, fans will once again see some neck-and-neck competition among the top three programs in D-III hockey.

At Bowdoin, the squad faced the closest game so far this season, having previously held off Conn. College 3-1 and Hamilton 6-0. While the Polar Bears entered the game 1-1 on the season, the erratic movements of the puck made for an unexpectedly tight game. Moreover, Bowdoin’s head coach Stacy Wilson had put together a strong lineup in anticipation of facing the tough Panther squad.

Contributions came from all sides on the Middlebury front, as the Panthers quickly put numbers on the scoreboard, knocking a pair of goals in within the opening minutes of the first period. The first shot around the net came off the stick of Maggie Melberg ’12, hitting the goalie before finding the back of the net.

The second goal came less than three minutes later, this time rebounding off the Bowdoin defense after being knocked in the zone by Julia Ireland ’11.

“Julia Ireland was strong on the puck in the Bowdoin game, and was able to capitalize twice to put Midd up 3-1,” said Melberg. “As the game was winding down, Grace Waters worked hard and sniped a shot in the top corner, with a nice pass from her line-mate, Julia. The game was close, but even though we let Bowdoin back in the game, we persevered and left Brunswick with a win.”

Ashley Bairos ’10 scored the game-winner with an assist from Melberg halfway through the final period, when the Polar Bears had managed to tie up the game with a late surge.

In goal, Lexi Bloom ’11 put up a strong defense, stopping 16 of 19 shots off the Bowdoin players.

“The Bowdoin game was really exciting,” said Bloom. “They’ve put together a great team this year, and they will definitely be big NESCAC competitors. The game got a bit hectic at times, but everyone stepped it up in the third period and we held out for the win.”

Though the Polar Bears demanded strong play from the Panthers, it was evident the next day in Watertown that the women were nowhere near exhaustion. Holding off Colby’s offensive advances entirely, Middlebury catapulted the puck into the goal over and over again, leaving goaltender Filomania Falcucci overwhelmed with 34 shots to block. While she saved an impressive 29, the five that made it in left the score remarkably lopsided.

“The Colby game was well fought and we were finally able to put the puck in the net during our power plays,” noted Melberg. “Nora Bergman played amazingly and with the tag team of Bairos and McNally, we were able to put points on the board. With Lani Wright in net we dominated the game.”

The game also saw action from first-year Maggie Woodward, whose first career goal in the second put the Panthers up 2-0 and launched an onslaught of offensive play for the rest of the game. One thing was clear: the Panthers have come together nicely early in the season.

“We are really becoming a cohesive unit on the ice,” said Bergman, adding that “the first-years blend in already, which is great.”

“We have plenty to improve on, but there were some really good moments of play from the whole team.  I think everyone is looking forward to the Panther/Cardinal classic after break.”