On Friday, the women’s hockey team lost their first Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) road game to Rensselaer, 10-4. The next day, however, they bounced back to beat Union, bringing the team’s season record to 2-7-1 and their conference record to 1-2-1.

With two quick goals in the opening period, Rensselaer took an early lead that they would never relinquish. In the fourth minute of the second period. senior tri-captain Beth Rotenberg scored Colgate’s first goal. Rensselaer quickly responded with a streak of five goals including two power-play goals. Six goals down, Colgate scored its second goal of the game from senior Katie Stewart. The third period began with three more Rensselaer goals. With nine minutes left to play, Colgate junior Jessi Waters scored her first goal of the year. Stewart’s second goal of the day, which she recorded only four minutes later, marked the end of the day’s scoring and signaled Colgate’s loss.

“As a team, we knew we had to forget about Friday’s game as soon as we left the rink that evening,” junior goalie Lisa Plenderleith said. “We let ourselves cool off, and refocus. It’s such a quick turnaround that there was really no time to dwell on what went wrong. We just knew that we had to play drastically better if we wanted to be successful on Saturday.”

The team’s coolness paid off as they rebounded from their loss to seize a decisive win from Union.

Plenderleith’s strong game between the goalposts combined with a day of dominant offense to make Colgate unstoppable. The first of Colgate’s goals was scored by Waters after 3:25. First-year Brittney Phillips followed her teammate’s lead, scoring five minutes later. 14 minutes into the second period, Stewart fired the puck past the Dutchwomen defense, making the score 3-0, also marking the third straight game in which Stewart has scored at least one. The final goal of the game was scored by junior Jacquie Colborne with two minutes left to play.

“I think we were a lot more mentally prepared for Saturday’s game,” Plenderleith reflected. “It’s unfortunate that we lost like we did on Friday, but we weren’t ready right from the drop of the puck.”

Colgate’s initial match-ups against ECAC opponents have revealed how competitive the league is and how tough Colgate’s opponents will be for the remainder of the season. The team, however, is not intimidated by the challenge.

“The ECAC is one of the strongest conferences in women’s hockey, and we’re very fortunate to play against such high caliber opponents week after week,” Plenderleith commented. “Playing in the ECAC against such top-notch teams will only better prepare us to play non-conference opponents down the stretch. Our remaining non-conference games should be very good tests for us as we approach the end of the semester.”

The Raiders will continue their stretch of ECAC games this weekend when they take on St. Lawrence, ranked first in the ECAC Pre-Season Poll, on Friday at 7 p.m. and Clarkson on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Starr Rink.

Contact Rebecca Silberman at [email protected].