The Colgate women’s ice hockey team has kept itself busy over the past two weeks, playing a total of four games, two of which were ECAC Hockey games. On Friday November 19, the Raiders hosted the Quinnipiac Bobcats and Colgate dropped its fourth ECAC Hockey game of the season in a 4-0 decision. The next day, however, the team secured its second ECAC Hockey win and shut-out of the season, defeating Princeton 2-0. Then, last Tuesday night at Starr Rink the Raiders dropped a nail-biting 4-3 contest to Syracuse; and on Saturday, ‘Gate suffered yet another defeat as it fell to No. 3 Mercyhurst, 4-2.

On Friday, November 19 both Quinnipiac and Colgate came out looking to get on the board first, but despite close opportunities, neither team was able to find the net. After the first 20 minutes of play, both teams remained scoreless.

In the second frame the Bobcats found success during the first few minutes of play, netting two swift goals at the 2:25 and 2:41 marks, resulting in a 2-0 lead at the start of the third. Quinnipiac then went on to score two more goals in the third period, ultimately giving the Bobcats a 4-0 triumph.

The next day, the Colgate Raiders played Princeton and the Tigers got off to a quick start in the first period, blasting a series of shots on net that were denied by junior goaltender Kimberly Sass. Despite outshooting Colgate 17-11 in the first period, the Raiders’ first-year forward Jocelyn Simpson got the first goal at the end of the first frame, giving Colgate a 1-0 lead.

After a scoreless second period, the Raiders found their second goal at the 18:13 mark of the final period. Sophomore forward Jenna Klynstra caught Princeton’s goaltender Rachel Weber outside the crease during Princeton’s attempt to add an extra player, and shot the puck into the net from across the ice to score the team’s second and final goal of the game. Sass, who recorded her second shutout win of the season, had an impressive 37 saves for the Raiders.

Last Tuesday, during the game against Syracuse, both teams started off playing aggressively. As the first period progressed, however, Syracuse became the dominant force on the rink and attacked Colgate’s net, eventually netting a goal at the 2:55 mark to give the Orange a 1-0 lead. The Raiders, however, quickly answered back six minutes later. Sophomore forward Brittany Phillips received a pass from Rachel Walsh only to then flick a pass to up to junior defender Amanda Kirwan who slammed it home to tie the score at one.

During the second period, Syracuse got on the board first, giving the Orange the 2-1 advantage. The lead was short-lived, however, as minutes later Colgate returned the favor. Phillips picked up a rebound and blasted the puck past first-year goaltender Jenesica Drinkwater to even the score.

Phillips then scored Colgate’s third goal with a power play at the 11:03 mark, giving Colgate its first lead of the game, 3-2. Unfortunately, only minutes later, the Orange found another goal to tie the score for the third time in the game. Syracuse then went on to add another tally towards the end of the contest to secure the Orange the win, 4-3.

Last Saturday, Colgate played against the No. 3 Mercyhurst Lakers. At the start of the game Colgate was playing aggressively, firing a flurry of shots at the Lakers’ net in the opening minutes of play. But Mercyhurst soon picked up its pace, generating some threatening attempts on goal themselves and the first frame remained scoreless due to tough defense on

both sides.

“Our goal was to play a tight defensive game utilizing the trap, which would frustrate them, and ultimately create opportunities for us to capitalize on,”

Kirwan said.

During the second period, Mercyhurst started off strong as they knocked the puck in at the 4:31 mark to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. The Raiders finally answered back in the first two minutes of the final frame, when first-year forward Taylor Volpe blasted the puck into the net off a pass from sophomore defender Jordan Brickner during a power play, leveling the score for Colgate at one. Both teams soon began fighting hard to find a second goal and avoid overtime play. It was Mercyhurst, however, that was able to make a break and score two quick goals at the 10:05 and 10:55 marks. The fourth goal was scored minutes later at the 12:14 mark, giving the Lakers a 4-1 lead.

“We could have quit right there,” Kirwan said, “but after a brief time out by Coach Wiley, the team got motivated again and showed a lot of character and continued to battle.”

Despite Mercyhurst’s three-goal cushion, the Raiders continued to attack the net hard. Their efforts were soon rewarded when Kirwan beat junior goaltender Hillary Pattenden at the 17:08 mark, giving Colgate its second goal of the game and cutting the Lakers’ lead down to two. Despite some close last-minute attempts, however, the Raiders were unable to make a comeback in the nick of time, resulting in a 4-2 loss to the Lakers.

“Our goal tending was stellar, our defensive play was good and our forwards out-chanced our opposition.” Kirwan commented. “Unfortunately, the clock wasn’t on our side and although we fought to the end, we ran out of time.”

Colgate was aware before the game against the Lakers that the competition against the No.3 team would be fierce.

“We knew we would have to play a solid sixty minutes to be successful,” Kirwan said. “Their team is stacked with U22 players as well as a two-time Olympic gold medalist. Even though we didn’t have the outcome we wanted, we learned a lot as a team and never gave up.”

Colgate will return to Starr Rink tomorrow when it faces Clarkson at 5 p.m. This will be followed by a game against St. Lawrence on Saturday at 3 p.m. After this weekend’s games, the Raiders will take a month-long break before going on a

five-month road stand to start 2011.