Seven different players found the back of the net as #4 Middlebury rolled past Wesleyan 8-1 in women's ice hockey action Friday night. Middlebury improved to 6-0-2 with the victory, keeping pace with fifth-ranked Amherst College atop the NESCAC standings with a 5-0 conference mark. Wesleyan fell to 2-9 on the year and 1-4 in conference action. The two teams will meet again on Saturday with the puck dropping at 3 p.m.
Middlebury held a 22-0 advantage in shots in the first period and a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. McKenzie Stevens put the Panthers on the board with 11:09 gone, scoring off a rebound from 15 feet out for her first tally of the season. Middlebury extended its advantage to two goals at the 16:03 mark, when Jennifer Krakower sent a slap shot through the legs of Wesleyan netminder Ashleigh Corvi with the Panthers on the power play. The goal was Krakower's first of the year.
Middlebury padded its lead with a four-goal second period. Lauren Greer scored her first goal of the campaign on a one-timer with 3:14 gone, and Libby Miner did the same at 4:57. Grace Waters added a power-play wrister at 11:27 to make it 5-0, and Hannah Bielawski added a score with 12:37 elapsed for a 6-0 Middlebury lead.
Senior Maria Bourdeau picked up an unassisted tally, her first of the year, with 2:25 gone in the third period to make it 7-0, and Greer added her second goal of the night at the 6:12 mark for Middlebury's eighth goal.
Wesleyan's goal came off the stick of Rebecca Snelling at the 8:13 mark. Snelling's shot through traffic went through the five-hole to give her her first tally of the season. The goal also marked the first time in four games that Wesleyan has scored against Middlebury, as the Panthers took the previous three meetings by a combined score of 24-0.
Annabelle Jones was called on to make only two saves in two periods in the Middlebury net. Jones has allowed only four goals on 102 shots this season and currently leads Division III with a .962 save percentage. Madeline Marsh handled the final 20 minutes, making five stops in her first action of the year. Corvi recorded 52 saves for Wesleyan.
Middlebury improved to 44-0-3 all-time against Wesleyan with the victory and has now won ten straight against the Cardinals.
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