PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – Trailing 3-2 after 40-minutes of action, the Elmira College women’s ice hockey program rallied for a pair of third-period goals to advance to the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Championship after downing William Smith College 4-3 on Saturday at the Murray Athletic Center.
The Soaring Eagles advance to their second straight NEHC Championship contest and will face No. 11 Norwich on Saturday, March 5 with puck-drop scheduled for 3:00 P.M. Norwich advanced to the title match after rallying with a pair of third-period goals to defeat Southern Maine 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: No. 9 Elmira 4, William Smith 3
LOCATION: Pine Valley, New York | Murray Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (21-5-0), William Smith (12-13-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
It would be the Soaring Eagles that would strike first on the scoreboard as Elmira would go to work on the power play just over nine minutes into the contest. Working the puck around the offensive zone, Claire Meeder ’23 would get a pair of close looks in the crease and eventually found the back of the net with a second effort to make it 1-0 in favor of Elmira. Erika Goleniak ’25 would get credit for the assist on Meeder’s power-play strike.
William Smith would take advantage of an Elmira turnover in the defensive end despite being short-handed as Emma Faso found the back of the net at the 11:57 mark for the Herons to knot the score 1-1. Less than a minute after the Herons tallied the equalizer, they would have a breakaway with Elmira’s power play expiring as Julianna Gong put her team ahead 2-1 at the 12:50 mark. Elmira would answer with a late goal in the period to knot the score 2-2 as Emma Bradbury ’26 beat the clock with assists going to Meeder and Katie Manning ’25.
There would be just one goal scored in the second period as the Herons would convert on their first power-play opportunity of the contest. Gong would tally her second of the game for William Smith at the 5:10 mark of the frame to give her team a 3-2 advantage. Elmira would get a late power-play opportunity but would be unable to knot the score through 40 minutes of action.
Both sides would fight off some early scoring opportunities in the third period to keep the score at 3-2 before Elmira would bury the equalizer just under seven minutes into the frame. Morgan Mordini ’22 rushed the puck into the offensive zone along the boards after taking a long pass from Manning and would go top shelf with a wrist shot to find the back of the net at the 6:49 mark to knot things at 3-3.
Mordini would have a key hand in setting up the go-ahead strike for Elmira as she flipped a puck from her own blue line to a charging Holley Riva ’23, who would take the puck past a William Smith defender and beat the goalkeeper at the 12:56 mark of the period to give Elmira a 4-3 advantage. William Smith would use its timeout late in the third period and looked to pull the goalkeeper before a late penalty call would put the Soaring Eagles on the power play.
UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold return to the ice for the NEHC Championship contest on Saturday against foe Norwich beginning at 3:00 P.M. from the Murray Athletic Center.
