Waterville, Maine- Colby College Women's Ice Hockey participated in the first round of the DIII NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament as the #10 seed against the #9 seed Norwich University Cadets. Despite coming into the game as the underdog, the Mules defeated their opponent 5-2 to advance to the quarterfinal round.
In their first time hosting an NCAA Tournament match at home the Mules began with a starting lineup of
Klara Jandusikova,
Bri Michaud-Nolan,
Meg Rittenhouse,
Tate Senden,
McKinley Karpa, and goalkeeper
Paige Bolyard. Colby came into the match determined, and displayed this with a goal not even a minute into the first period. Audrey Shrirer created an impressive play retrieving the puck out of the corner to create the assist for
Courtney Schumacher to give Colby the 1-0 lead. After the goal, the Mules continued to keep the puck in their offensive zone with great offensive touches and saves by Bolyard, when the momentum shifted to their defensive zone. However, the puck could not stay in the Mules' defensive zone for long as
Breanna Studley contributed with another goal, and only 62 seconds later
Stephanie Lane finished out the first period scoring to give the Mules a three-goal lead going into the second. Colby continued their offensive prowess in the second period while also working hard on the defensive end and preventing the Cadets from connecting any passes in neutral ice as the team struggled to get past
Paige Bolyard. With 61 seconds left in the third captain,
Bri Michaud-Nolan put the puck in the back of the net, the only goal for either team in a back-and-forth second period. Eight minutes into the third, fellow captain
Meg Rittenhouse put the puck over the shoulder of the goalkeeper for a 5-0 lead. Although Norwich began to gain momentum in the third period, they simply could not overcome the nonstop effort of Colby.
This Saturday, March 11th, Colby College Women's Ice Hockey will travel to Amherst, Massachusetts to face off against the Amherst College Mammoths at 3 pm in the quarterfinal round of the DIII NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament.
