With six players on the ice at the end of the third period on March 1, Colgate University women’s ice hockey emerged victorious from their three game ECAC quarterfinal series versus Princeton at the Class of 1965 Arena.
As the No. 2 seed in the ECAC and fifth in the nation (as of March 10), the women’s team earned a bye weekend the previous weekend during which they learned that Princeton beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to advance to the quarterfinals. In the best-of-three series, Colgate won both games on Friday, Feb. 28, 5-2 and Saturday, March 1, 2-1.
Junior forward Elyssa “Bieds” Biederman, who delivered a hat trick within the first eight minutes of the first period of the first game, shared her thoughts on Friday’s game in the bigger picture of the series.
“It’s a three game series, so obviously the first one of the game is important; it shifts the determination of the second game, whether it’s your season on the line or their season on the line,” Biederman said.
One thing Biederman emphasized was the fact that the end of the quarterfinal signaled the end of the season for one of the two teams. Rather than stress over Colgate’s season potentially ending, Biederman explained that it was important to consider the perspective of Princeton if their season were to end because of the Raiders.
“I think the second game our mindset was more lets finish the job and get the rest, but also we’re aware of Princeton’s situation and that if Princeton loses one of these series, that’s the end of their season,” Biederman said.
“[Head Coach Stefan Decosse] always says that ending a team’s season is one of the hardest things to do, so I think we felt the push from Princeton,” Biederman continued. “We knew it was coming, but we battled through it and came out with the two wins.”
Junior transfer forward Alexis Petford, who scored the fifth and final Colgate goal of Friday’s game, described the climactic ending of Saturday’s game while echoing Biederman’s outlook on the difficulty of ending another team’s season.
“The most exciting, nerve wracking moment was the last minute of the game on Saturday,” Petford said. “They had scored, and they had put themselves at 2-1, so we were up a goal, but it’s obviously very nerve wracking when you’re six on five in the last minute of the game to end a team’s season. It’s always tough to do that.”
The Raider’s series sweep was an improvement upon the last time they met the Tigers in the tournament.
“We played Princeton my freshman year in the quarterfinals too; they won the first game, and then we ended up winning the next two. We ended their season, so the past few years we’ve had recent history with Princeton,” Biederman said.
Although Biederman has been around the block in the ECAC tournament, it is both Petford and fellow junior transfer defender Casey Borgiel’s first times, in addition to those of their first year teammates.
Even though Borgiel, who had four assists across the series, has only been part of the Raiders for this season, she has already identified a love for the team and program.
“I love this team; it’s very much a winning culture. The girls know how to win, and they know what it takes to do that. It’s been nice and refreshing playing on a team like this,” Borgiel said.
Petford also shared her positive experience being integrated into the team as a transfer.
“This season has definitely meant a lot for me, especially because it’s my first season here,” Petford said. “Being on a different team is new coming in, but I think that the girls definitely pulled me in and made me feel part of the team. I’m excited to be going to the semis with this group, and hopefully we will go to the ECAC.”
Heading into the game on Friday, March 7 — the semifinal against No. 7 St. Lawrence which the Raiders won 4-2 — Petford reflected on the importance of their handling of the puck.
“They’re a team that likes to block shots, so we have to be smart with the puck whether that’s putting pucks deep or getting it off the boards. We can’t be losing it at the blue line or red line. We can’t be giving up those odd man rushes because they’re a team that likes to capitalize” Petford said.
Borgiel also reflected on the importance of being on the ice without possession of the puck.
“We know what we need to do; it’s just about whether we do it or not. It’s also about what you do when you don’t have the puck. If you don’t have the puck on your stick, are you doing the right things?” Borgiel said.
Borgiel’s sentiment about the selflessness of teamwork aligns with Biederman’s philosophy. Biederman, who received ECAC All-League second-team honors, highlighted how individual player achievements belong to the team as a whole.
“My wins are their wins; their wins are my wins,” Biederman said. “The individual stats don’t matter to us. When we do reach individual stats, we’ll celebrate whomever that is, but that person knows it’s credit to certain people, too, who helped them reach whatever their achievement was. I think we’re very team oriented, and our culture is awesome. We just do what we love. We’re really looking forward to this weekend.”
With the next stop for the Raiders in Ithaca, N.Y., the home of the No. 1 ranked and No. 3 seeded Cornell University, the team is ambitious to make the most of this next destination if not for the season’s sake, but for that of each other.
“Everyone is with the expectation that we’re playing Saturday,” Borgiel said. “We want to play on Saturday. Everyone wants to win the league; that’s the expectation […] Obviously we want to win, but we don’t want the season to end because we love hanging out with each other.”
Update: Having won their semifinal against St. Lawrence 4-2, the team fell short to Cornell in the ECAC championship game on March 8, 1-5. Based on their performance in the tournament, the team secured the No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament and is set to face No. 4 Minnesota on March 15.
