HANOVER, N.H. (2/29/08) - With 24 seconds remaining, Dartmouth College’s Sarah Parsons roofed a shot over the right shoulder of netminder
Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, Ont.) to give the Big Green a 4-3 win over Colgate University in game one of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal series on Friday, Feb. 29.
Parsons found the puck on the near boards and skated into the circle where she fired the shot.
Dartmouth took a 2-1 lead after the opening frame, but it was Colgate who had the first couple of looks at the net. Juniors
Sam Hunt (Calgary, Alta.) and
Elin Brown (Calgary, Alta.) each fired the puck towards the net, but both chances went wide. The Raiders led shots on goal in the period, 12-9.
In the sixth minute, Dartmouth took the early lead when Larissa Laroche received the puck in the slot from Amanda Trunzo and slid it across the paint and over the goal line.
Colgate answered back less than five minutes later with a tally from sophomore
Marissa Dombovy (Webster, N.Y.). Hunt
won a draw deep in the zone and Dombovy picked up the puck and walked through her defenders to stuff it in on goaltender Carli Clemis at 10:09.
Killing off its first penalty, Parsons helped the Big Green regain the lead 26 seconds after releasing its player from the box. Maggie Kennedy found the puck behind the net and sent it across the ice to Parsons who flipped the puck over the right shoulder Plenderleith at 13:57.
Leading off the second period, Hunt evened the game scoring off of senior
Kara Leene (Waterbury, Vt.) and Dombovy’s rebounds at 1:05. Leene picked up a feed in the neutral zone and skated in on net rifling a shot at Clemis. Dombovy tried again after the puck popped back out and Hunt found the second rebound and the right side of the net wide open for the taking.
Inching its way ahead, the Big Green scored a power-play goal at 12:56 that sparked a debate between both benches and officials. The goal light came on but Plenderleith signaled that she had the puck as she sat on the ice. After a discussion with the goal judge, the officials let the goal stand with the tally being credited to Trunzo from Nicole Ruta.
Colgate slipped behind in shots in the period, as five penalties resulted to playing half of the period down a skater, which led the Big Green to put 13 shots on net to the Raiders’ nine.
Keeping things exciting, Dartmouth received three straight penalties to give Colgate ample time to tally its next goal. It came at 7:55 when Dombovy tapped the puck in on the right side after the puck made its way across the goal mouth. With Clemis turned to her left to stop Hunt from stuffing it in, Dombovy had the open chance on the right side. Brown was credited with delivering the puck to Hunt.
Evening things up, a Colgate skater received a five-minute major for hitting from behind which left the Raiders man-down for a serious stretch of time against one the top-ranked power-play units. Highlighting Colgate's penalty-kill was Brown and Hunt both having breakaways, with Clemis stopping Brown’s shot, and Hunt getting pulled down on her opportunity.
Reaction time was vital for Plenderleith with just over three minutes to play when a shot came sailing towards the net. The puck was slowed up and started to trickle towards the goal line, but Plenderleith made the quick reaction to poke it just wide of the right post.
After Parson’s goal, Colgate pulled Plenderleith for the remaining 24 seconds to try to even up the scoring and force overtime but the Raiders couldn’t get a shot on net as the Big Green defense did a good job of protecting the cage.
Plenderleith finished the night with 33 saves, while Clemis stopped 30 shots on net.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday, March 1 in game two of the best-of-three ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal series. The puck drops at 4 p.m., at Thompson Arena.
