The Colby Echo

Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Justin Dunn

The women's ice hockey team finished the regular season this past weekend with a pair of wins over Wesleyan University, giving them the fifth seed in the upcoming New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament. They will play fourth seed Hamilton College this coming weekend at Hamilton in the quarterfinal. The Mules end the regular season with a 6-7-3 record in NESCAC and 9-10-5 overall record.

Becky Julian '09 was the sole scorer on Saturday, assisted by Laura Anning '09 and again later by Heather Nickerson '09, in what would turn out to be a shut-out win for the Mules over the visiting Cardinals. Wesleyan was unable to get anything past Colby Captain Genevieve Triganne '08, who successfully saved all of Wesleyan's 15 shots on goal.

Sunday's game proved to be somewhat more of a challenge for the Mules, though they were able to clinch the win in the end. The Cardinals kept pace, goal for goal, for the first and second period, though the Mules proved to be the superior team as Anning was able to score what would be the game winning goal on a power play in the third period.

Kaitlyn Conway '10's goal was rebutted after less than a minute of play to leave the game tied 1-1 at the end of the first period. In the second period, Julian and Collette Finley '09 were both able to put the puck in the net, to put the Mules up 3-1, but with less than a minute left in that period the Cardinals were back even, 3-3. That would be the last of the Cardinals' scoring, but not of the Mules'. Triganne saved 18 of 21 shots, while Wesleyan's goalie saved 35 of 39 shots.

Captain Lauren Goethals '08 said, "We are really excited about the outcome of the weekend. We needed to win both games to stay in fifth place and we are happy that we accomplished that goal. Every person on the team contributed this weekend, which is a good way to start off the playoffs. Now we are just focusing on beating Hamilton."

A number of women on the team have had impressive performances this season. Amanda Comeau '09 was honored as NESCAC Player of the Week on Feb. 12 after tallying five goals and an assist for Colby in a week of play. Triganne was named NESCAC Player of the Week on Dec. 11 after blocking 71 of the 76 shots she faced in a week. Anning is ninth in the league in overall points, with 27, while Comeau and Julian are tied for sixth in overall goal scoring, with 13 each. Comeau and Anning are tied for ninth in power play goals, while Anning is also third in game-winning goals. Triganne has an impressive save percentage of .902. Hopefully these talents will come into play this weekend to allow Colby to advance to the semifinal competition.

The NESCAC hockey post-season is a simple tournament structure wherein each team will continue playing until they lose. The Colby women have one loss and one win against Hamilton this season, and hope to maintain their perfect road record against them. Triganne is confident the women will fare well in their upcoming competitions. "We have been playing extremely well as a team lately, with everyone contributing to our victories, and will be working hard on and off the ice all week in order to prepare for Hamilton. We are capable of beating every single team in our league, and look forward to proving that over the course of the next two weeks."

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