After a thrilling win over the Connecticut College Camels last weekend, the women's hockey team will travel to Middlebury to take on the top-seeded Panthers on Saturday.
The Polar Bears quickly found themselves behind last Saturday, as the Camels' Kourtney Martin put a loose puck in front of the crease into the net to give Connecticut College a 1-0 advantage just 4:56 into the first period. However, junior Dominique Lozzi's goal 10 minutes later evened the score at 1-1.
With the game still tied heading into the final period, the Polar Bears were able to convert on a crucial power play. Shelagh Merrill '12 assisted Lozzi, who scored again for the game-winning goal with 15 minutes left in the match. Despite numerous solid attempts from the Camels to score another equalizer, Tara Connolly '13—who finished the game with 24 saves—was able to keep them off the board to preserve the win.
In the end, Connecticut College narrowly out-shot the Polar Bears 25-19, but the Bears were 1-for-4 on power plays while the Camels went 0-for-3. All three games between the teams this season were decided by a single goal, with Bowdoin taking 2 of 3 wins.
The team "started out a little nervous knowing that it was a big game," Lozzi said. "However, we were able to overcome that and really started clicking as a unit. The victory on Saturday was a result of everyone's hard work and determination to have that not be the last game of our season."
The Polar Bears, though, will have their work cut out for them this weekend against Middlebury. Not only did the Panthers win both head-to-head matches in the regular season, but they have only lost one out of 16 total conference games this season. The Panthers cruised to a 6-2 win over Williams last Saturday.
This Saturday's game is still expected to be competitive from start to finish. The Polar Bears and Panthers present one of the NESCAC's biggest rivalries; they met in the conference championships four years in a row from 2002 through 2006. Middlebury won three of those games. While the Panthers lead the conference in power play defense, the Polar Bears are second in offensive opportunities, converting 26.3 percent of the time.
The Polar Bears are clearly confident heading into their final weekend.
According to Connolly, "we have proven to ourselves that we can beat the best teams in the league—Middlebury last year, Amherst this year—so now all that's left is to go out and prove that to everyone else by beating Middlebury in Kenyon Arena."
"Everyone is very excited for this coming weekend," added Lozzi. "We know that we have a large task at hand, having to play the No. 1 team in the league. However, we definitely know what it is going to take to win, and have both the confidence and skills to have an extremely successful weekend."
A live webcast of this weekend's games will be available courtesy of Middlebury.