This past week, the Colgate women’s hockey team had an amazing showing against both Princeton and Quinnipiac, elevating their overall record 9-1-0. Although the Raiders were recovering after losing to St. Lawrence the previous week, the team was not deterred as it headed into two very tough battles. 

On Friday night, the Raiders were able to secure a 2-0 win over the Princeton Tigers. In the first period, senior forward Shelby Perry was able to notch her first goal this season, assisted by junior forward Shae Labbe and senior defender Lauren Wildfang. Wildfang’s assist brought her to second place on the team with a total of seven assists this season, six of which have taken place in the team’s last three games. Additionally, this was Wildfang’s thirteenth career multi-point game. This assist by Labbe to Perry was Labbe’s fourth this season. 

With an early lead, the Raiders were able to secure their win with another goal at the start of the second period by first-year forward Malia Schneider. This goal would mark her seventh so far this season. This win over Princeton was huge for the Raiders, as the team had not been successful in a matchup against the Tigers since 2014.

“Both teams had their moments and fortunately we were able to find one early there in the first and rode that wave. Their goalie played exceptionally, as did ours, and it was a good back and forth game,” head coach Greg Fargo said.

Coming off a big win, the team had a lot of confidence and drive heading into its game against the Quinnipiac Bobcats. Again, they were able to outcompete their opponents, crushing them 4-1. After the first, back and forth stretch of a score-less 30-minute match, junior forward Jesse Eldridge, a consistent stand-out for the Raiders this year, found the net. Additionally, Labbe, junior forward Bailey Larsen and senior forward Annika Zalewski also were able to put up goals for the Raiders. 

In this game, junior goaltender Julia Vandyk only let one power play goal past her, which resulted in a goal for Quinnipiac’s Kenzie Prater. However, this win now has Vandyk tied for the Colgate record of most wins accrued by a goalkeeper in Colgate history, which was first reached by Rebecca Laher ’05 in 2005. With her 35th win under her belt, she now has a career record of 35-13-5, this being her 54th game in total. Vandyk hopes to win many more games, especially at a time when the team’s future looks extremely bright.

“To know that we can play well against these two teams gives us a lot of confidence moving forward, and we’re just going to continue to get better. It’s a good step in the right direction. But we want to keep getting better as the year goes on,” Fargo said.

With a lot of confidence after back-to-back wins and new broken records, the Raiders are now gearing up for their upcoming game against the University of New Hampshire on Friday, November 11.

“Although we have so much hype and confidence coming off of these two huge wins, we cannot become complacent. The only way we are going to continue our success is to remember that each game is a new battle and we have to fight just as hard each time just how we did this week,” senior forward Megan Sullivan said.

Contact Lindsay West at lwest@colgate.edu.