The Middlebury College Panthers (13-4-1, 10-2-1) extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a 4-1 victory against Connecticut College (5-12-2, 2-7-2) at Dayton Arena Friday afternoon. The fifth ranked Panthers took the lead for good with a pair of power play goals scored just 59 seconds apart in the second period.
Junior Anna McNally (St. Paul, Minn.), Nora Bergman (Concord, Mass.) and Heather Marrison (Brewster, N.Y.) all contributed with a goal and an assist for the winning side. Maggie Woodward (Dover, N.H.) chipped in with an empty-net score. Junior netminder Lexi Bloom (Highland Park, Ill.) collected 10 of her 19 saves in the second period of action for the winning side.
Connecticut College junior Abby Hine (Madison, Conn.) scored her fifth goal of the season. Brigid O'Gorman (Eden, N.Y.) assisted on the tally. Senior Sara Christopher (Andover, Mass.) stopped 24 shots, including a nifty kick stop on a penalty shot that preserved a scoreless tie in the first period of action.
The Camels were tested early when Lauren Greer (N. Hampton, N.H.) walked in for a shot from point blank range but Christopher put a blocker on the puck to make the save. Later on in the frame, Ashley Bairos (Van Nuys, Calif.) tried to find the top shelf but Christopher was able to climb the ladder to come up with the puck. With 2:33 remaining, Christopher denied Maggie Melberg (Woody Creek, Colo.) with her back-handed bid on the penalty shot and the teams were headed to the first intermission in a scoreless tie.
In the middle period, Hine opened the scoring at 8:53 with a put back of her shot to put the Camels on top 1-0. But the Panthers used their power play to jumpstart their offense. In a 5-on-3 situation, Marrison buried a slap shot from the right point for the equalizer. Marrison assisted on the next goal as she hit McNally with a pass in the slot for the go-ahead goal.
In the third period, Hine made a nice move to tie the game out in front of the goal, but Marrison stopped the play by committing a cross-checking penalty. The Panthers were able to skate off the infraction without any further damage. Bergman scored the backbreaking goal with 1:39 remaining at the left post in an odd women rush to make it a 3-1 Middlebury lead. The Panthers added the empty net goal to close out the 4-1 win.
BOX SCORE
