Women’s Hockey Splits Pair With Bowdoin

This past weekend, Jan. 18 and 19, the Middlebury women’s ice hockey team traveled up to Maine for a doubleheader against Bowdoin, splitting the two-game set against the host Polar Bears.

The first game, on Friday night, was a challenge for Middlebury. They failed to put the puck in the back of the net, suffering a 3-0 loss. The following day, however, the Panthers left the ice as victors, beating the Polar bears 4-2.

“We were disappointed with the outcome of the first game and had trouble putting the puck in the net,” said forward Katie Mandigo ’16. “But Saturday we came ready to battle and delivered.”

The Polar Bears took control of the game early, scoring one goal in each period and keeping a lead over the Panthers for all 60 minutes of the game.

Bowdoin incurred twice as many penalties as Middlebury, and the Panthers outshot their opponent 33 to 23 in the game. Goalkeeper Annabelle Jones ’15 had a strong game with 20 total saves, recording nine in the second period alone.

The win extended the seventh-seed Polar Bears’ winning streak to 14 games. Fourth-seed Middlebury’s eight-game winning streak comes to a halt with the loss.

“Bowdoin pushed us to play a full 60 minutes and we learned a lot about our potential as a team,” said defender Julia Wardwell ’16.

On Saturday Bowdoin’s winning streak came to an end, as the guest team tapped in four goals en route to a 4-2 win.

In the first period, the two teams traded possession of the puck, and neither team was able to put points on the board.

In the second period, however, the Panthers tapped in two goals — one from Lauren Greer ’13 and the other from Emily Fluke ’15 ­— to help themselves to the lead and finish out the period on top, despite Bowdoin’s goal as time expired on the second period.

Middlebury scored two more goals in the third period to Bowdoin’s one. The first, from Fluke on an assist from Jennifer Krakower ’14 and Heather Morrison ’13, gave the Panthers the lead before Hannah Bielawski ’15 netted her first of the game to run the final score to 4-2.

Middlebury outshot Bowdoin 31-22 in the game, which saw only two penalties called in total.

The Panthers now own a 10-2-2 record (7-1-2 in the NESCAC), while Bowdoin moves to 13-2-1 (7-1-0 in NESCAC).

This coming weekend, the Panthers play host to the Continentals from Hamilton on both Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26. Hamilton sits at fourth place in the conference standings with a NESCAC record of 4-3-1.

“Every NESCAC game is tough and important to win in order to move NESCACs here to Middlebury,” said Julia Wardwell ’16.