Middlebury broke a brief two-game losing streak with a 4-0 shutout victory at Connecticut College (10-9-1, 6-7-1) in game two of a NESCAC series. The fifth-ranked Panthers (13-4-2, 10-2-2) earn a split in the series after being knocked off 2-1 on Saturday. Emily Fluke scored a natural hat-trick with all three markers coming in the third period and assisted on a fourth goal in the win.
Mackenzie Martin chipped in with a second period score and Annabelle Jones made 30 saves en route to her first shutout this year.
The Camels nearly got on board in the opening period with 13:48 remaining on the power play when Olivia Farrell broke free but Jones was able to make the stick save at the near post side of the goal. Later on with 13:02 to go, Leigh Getz unloaded with a blast from the left point but Jones was able to make another nice stop for the visitors.
Later on in the period with 7:58 remaining Jennifer Krakower fired a shot on Fralick that was saved. Hannah Bielawski tried to beat Fralick with a wrist shot at the left circle with 5:10 remaining but Fralick made another nice stop for the hosts. Bielawski would test Fralick again on a Panther power play with 3:34 to go but Fralick was able to make the diving stab for the Camels. The visitors out-shot the hosts 15-to-11 in the opening period of play.
In the second period, Ariel DiPasquale had a scoring chance for the Camels with 7:07 to go when she fired a shot in on Jones from the middle of the blue line that was saved by the Middlebury netminder. The Panthers finally broke through with 2:20 remaining in the second. Martin tipped in a shot at the near post side. Heather Marrison and Fluke assisted on the score.
In the third period, the Panthers scored a critical insurance marker with 15:18 remaining in regulation. Sara Ugalde fired a shot from right circle that was stopped by Fralick but Fluke pounced on the rebound and went top shelf from her backhand to make it a 2-0 score. Fluke tacked on another score with 5:44 remaining when her shot caught a deflection off of another skater in the slot area and found its way into the back of the net.
With 33.3 seconds left, Fluke completed the trifecta with an empty-netter and the Panthers were able to hold on for the 4-0 triumph.
Fralick finished with 48 saves Sunday and made 77 stops in the two-game series.
Middlebury held a 52-30 advantage in shots and were 2-5 on their power play.
Box Score
