The women’s hockey team traveled to New England last week for a pair of ECAC clashes against Yale and Brown. Sitting in the middle of the league standings and with aspirations of repeating its postseason success of last season, Colgate needed two quality games to try and vault into the top four of the ECAC. Against the Bulldogs, the Raiders played great hockey en route to a 4-1 victory, but the following night against the Bears, the lack of consistency that has hampered the squad all season was on display once again, as Colgate only mustered a 3-3 tie against a team with only two wins in 14 ECAC contests.

Without the spectacular play of junior co-captain Elin Brown, however, the three road points would have been impossible to obtain. Brown, named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, had a hand in all seven of Colgate’s goals in the two games.

“She really stepped up this weekend,” first-year goaltender Lisa Plenderleith said of her teammate. “She factored in on every one of our goals, recording one goal and six assists.”

Brown and the rest of the Raiders began the weekend impressively in New Haven against Yale. In addition to the four-point effort of Brown, sophomores Evan Minnick, Marissa Dombovy and junior Sam Hunt all recorded two points in the 4-1 victory. Plenderleith was equally great in goal, as she stopped 21 shots.

“The Yale game was the first game since Dartmouth that we played well for most of the game,” Dombovy said afterwards.

“We were very pleased with the result on Friday night against Yale. We had a solid win and really came together as a team,” senior co-captain Kate Wolgemuth added.

The following night against Brown, however, Colgate encountered some trouble. The Raiders started strong by taking an early 1-0 lead on a Minnick power play goal, but Brown scored two power play goals in the final two minutes of the first period to give them a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

At 7:51 of the second period, the Bears scored again to take a 3-1 lead, but the Raiders responded immediately. First-year Jessi Waters found the back of the net less than a minute later to make the score 3-2. Midway through the third period, Sam Hunt completed the comeback as she scored her 50th career goal to knot the game at three. The ensuing overtime period was dominated by the Raiders, but they were unable to score the decisive goal.

“Brown was frustrating,” junior Kiira Dosdall said. “We out shot them 57-21 and tied. We were expecting to win, so that was a bit of a disappointment. However, we came back in the third period from a 3-1 deficit and, at times, played so well. So there are still positives to take out of that game.”

“Although we did not lose, tying the Bears was not the outcome we were looking for,” Wolgemuth added. “Points on the road are big, but four points would have been better than the three earned.”

There is no time to dwell on the past, as Colgate plays a home-and-home with Cornell this weekend in the biggest regular-season series of the year.

“We have to come mentally prepared this weekend for two tough games against a quality opponent in Cornell,” Plenderleith said. “They have one of the top freshman players in the country, Rebecca Johnston, and have really turned it around this year as a team. If we don’t come ready to play, we won’t be successful and get the wins we need at this time of the year.”

Game times are 7 p.m. Friday at Starr Rink and 4 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink in Ithaca.