Brunswick, ME – The Elmira College Women's Ice Hockey team went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and senior Lauren Sullivan '13 stopped all 37 shots she faced in her 10th shutout of the season as EC defeated host Bowdoin College, 4-0, Saturday evening at Sidney J. Watson Arena. The win improves the Soaring Eagles to 22-5-1 and advances them to the national semifinals Friday, March 15th at 8:00 p.m. eastern time/7:00 p.m. central time, while the loss drops the Polar Bears to 21-5-2.
Both teams had multiple scoring opportunities in the open 20 minutes. With 7:42 remaining in the opening period Tanis Lamoureux '14 fired a low shot to Kayla Lessard's glove slide that slipped by her and struck off the right post and was cleared away. With three and a half minutes remaining Elmira skated 2-on-1 into the offensive zone as Ashton Hogan '15 missed just wide.
Elmira got on the board at the 18:44 mark when the Soaring Eagles pulled the puck out of the far corner and Ashley Ryan '15 played a beautiful pass from left to right out in front to classmate Erin Weston '15 who beat Lessard glove side for the 1-0 lead. Despite the Polar Bears holding a 13-5 shots on goal edge in the opening period, EC took a 1-0 advantage on the scoreboard into the first intermission.
Just 2:40 into the second period Bowdoin picked up a tripping penalty as Elmira went on the skater advantage. Ryan controlled the puck behind the net and fed it to Madison Johnston '13 at the left faceoff circle. She played a quick pass to her right where Brooke Wilgosh '15 fired a shot on net from outside the right circle that beat a shielded Lessard stick side. Just 3:43 into the frame the visiting Soaring Eagles took a 2-0 lead.
Three minutes later Taylor Steadman '16 had a golden opportunity 1-on-1 from point blank range but the Polar Bear goaltender came up with a big save. Bowdoin drew an Elmira penalty after the play and earned its first power play of the evening but the EC penalty kill unit was up to the task maintaining a two goal lead. With 10 seconds remaining on the power play Bowdoin's Madeline Lane nailed a slap shot off the crossbar as Elmira's penalty kill unit survived another skater advantage.
At the 12:43 mark of the period the Polar Bears went on the extra skater advantage once again and the Purple and Gold once again shut down the Bowdoin power play unit. After two periods Bowdoin continued to outshoot Elmira 23-11 but the Soaring Eagles led where it counts, 2-0 on the scoreboard.
Bowdoin outshot Elmira 37-25 in the contest and Sullivan stopped all 37 shots she faced in her 11th shutout of the season. Lessard made 21 stops in the loss for the Polar Bears.
The Women's Hockey team advances to the national semifinals on March 15th against Gustavus Adolphus at 8:00 p.m. The Division III semifinals and championship will be hosted by Wisconsin-Superior.
(EC Athletics)
