Amherst, Mass. - Junior Courtney Hanlon (Fullerton,
Calif.) scored 4:57 into overtime to lead the No. 1-seeded
Amherst College Lord Jeffs, ranked No. 2 in the nation, to a 2-1
overtime win over the No. 2-seeded Trinity College Bantams, ranked
No. 5 in the nation, in the New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC) Championship final game in women's ice hockey
action this afternoon at Orr Rink. Amherst, 21-2-4 (13-1-3
NESCAC), earns an automatic bid to the NCAA national tournament
with the win, and Trinity, 21-4-2 (11-4-2 NESCAC), will need to
receive an at-large bid to make the national tournament, which will
be decided in an NCAA selection process that will be webcast live
at 10 a.m. on Mon., March 8 on NCAA.com. The NCAA National
Tournament begins Fri., March 12.
Amherst dashed Trinity's hopes of capturing their first league
title when Hanlon was able sneak a wrist shot past Trinity senior
tri-captain goaltender Isabel Iwachiw (New York,
N.Y.) off a feed from senior Kate Dennett
(Highlands Ranch, Colo.) early in overtime, as the Amherst
team celebrated their third league Championship in the last four
years. It was Trinity's first appearance in the Championship
game in program history, as the Bantams earned their ticket to the
game with a four overtime 2-1 win over Middlebury last night in the
longest game in Div. III history.
Late in the first period, Trinity junior tri-captain Kim
Weiss (Potomac, Md.) skated up the left side of the ice
and spotted sophomore Celia Colman-McGraw (Manchester,
Conn.), who handled the pass and buried the puck in the
top right corner of the Amherst net to give the Bantams an early
1-0 advantage. The lead would last until the middle of
the second period, when senior Kristen Dier (Appleton,
Wisc.) answered with a game-tying goal for Amherst.
Trinity escaped danger at the end of the second period after two
straight penalties gave Amherst a 2-man advantage. Trinity
was able to kill one of the penalties and most of the second,
keeping the game deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the locker room
before the final period of regulation. The third period went
scoreless, sending the game to overtime, setting up Hanlon's
game-winner.
Despite the loss, Iwachiw made more history, coming up with 34
saves on the afternoon, giving her 128 for the tournament, a NESCAC
Championship Tournament record. Iwachiw made two saves in
overtime to give her the record 128th save, breaking the
previous mark of 127 set by Amherst's Krysten Elek in 2007.
Amherst junior goaltender Caroline Hu (Cerritos,
Calif.) made 14 stops for the Lord Jeffs.
Trinity and Amherst played twice this season, both at Amherst's
Orr Rink, in early December. After skating to a 0-0 overtime tie in
the season series opener, Amherst topped Trinity 3-2 the following
day. Amherst's 1-0-1 record against Trinity during the
regular season was the difference in the final NESCAC standings
that gave the Lord Jeffs home ice in the playoffs.
Trinity's fate will be decided on Monday, March 8 at 10 a.m.
during the NCAA National Tournament selection process, which will
be aired live on NCAA.com.
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