It is not often that Colgate hosts the second-ranked team in the nation, but that is exactly what happened last Sunday at Starr Rink. The University of New Hampshire women’s ice hockey team brought its lofty ranking and undefeated record to take on the Raiders. Colgate was able to hang tough, but the Wildcats ultimately proved to be too much, escaping with a hard-fought 4-1 victory.

If not for a few special teams goals, Colgate might have pulled off a 1-0 upset. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they were seemingly unable to stay out of the penalty box, accumulating nine penalties that led directly to four UNH power-play goals.

The scoring began in the first period as UNH’s Kacey Bellamy scored a couple of impressive goals with the man-advantage. Those tallies were answered by Colgate first-year Katie Stewart, who received assists from sophomore Sam Hunt and senior Ashley Bradford. Her goal, which came 2:26 into the second period, was her first collegiate goal and cut the deficit in half. 2-1, however, was as close as the Raiders would get. With late scores in both the second and third periods, the Wildcats secured the 4-1 victory.

Despite the loss, all was not lost for the Raiders. “We skated with, or I should say outskated, the number two team in the country, and at some point, number one,” sophomore Elin Brown said. “Five on five we beat them 1-0; in this league you have to have unbelievable special teams.”

Colgate gets a chance to atone for the loss with a pair of ECACHL games this weekend at Starr Rink.

“I think if we play like we did against UNH and start finishing on our opportunities we will be successful against Yale and Brown,” Hunt said.

Yale comes to town for a 7 pm contest on Friday, while Brown comes for a matinee affair on Saturday. Game time is 4 pm.