Slotnick lifts women's hockey to key victory

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Sophomore forward Samantha Slotnick (Canterbury, Conn.) scored twice in a 20-second span in the third period to help Colby College rally for a 4-3 women's ice hockey victory over Wesleyan University on Saturday.
 
The back-and-forth affair featured three lead changes and 19 combined penalties.
 
Colby kept its playoff hopes alive with the win. The Mules stand at 2-11-1 in NESCAC play and are just behind Wesleyan (3-11 NESCAC), which would have clinched a playoff berth with a victory. Both teams have two games remaining in the regular season, with the eighth and final spot in the NESCAC Championship up for grabs.
   
Slotnick netted the game-winner at the 11:10 mark of the third period. Following the center-ice face-off, Slotnick launched a blast from the point that went between the pads of Wesleyan junior goaltender Ashleigh Corvi (Barrington, R.I.) for her fourth goal of the year, moving her into a tie for the team lead in that category. Just 20 seconds earlier, Slotnick had tied the game with a low shot from the right circle that snuck inside the right post. Both tallies were unassisted.

Wesleyan had struck first following a scoreless first period. Nine seconds into a power play, Wesleyan won the offensive-zone face-off and first-year Cara Jankowski (Elkins, N.H.) launched a wrister from traffic on the right side of the net with 6:30 gone.

Colby held a 2-1 lead at the second intermission, however, as the Mules scored twice in the final 3:37 of the period. With four seconds remaining on a Wesleyan penalty, junior Meredith Reynolds (Marion, Mass.) won a face-off in the left circle and sent the puck to junior Caroline Chessare (Hopkinton, Mass.) in the slot. Chessare launched a wrister that sailed over Corvi's right shoulder at 16:23, just as the Wesleyan penalty expired.

Reynolds gave Colby the lead at the 18:30 mark. Junior Kathy Shei (Iverness, Ill.) sent the puck from the Mules' defensive zone to Reynolds in the neutral zone, giving the Mules a two-on-one break. Reynolds beat the Wesleyan defenseman and fired a low shot inside the right post for her third goal.

Just as it did in a 3-2 win Friday night, Wesleyan scored twice to go ahead by a goal. Senior Jill Reynolds (Medina, Minn.) knotted the score at 2-2 3:10 into the third when she deflected a point shot in front of the crease. The puck flew into the air and sailed into the top-right corner of the net. Junior Kelsey Muller (Sunapee, N.H.) put Wesleyan ahead just under three minutes later with a power-play marker. Muller's initial shot from the slot was stopped, but she was able to whack in the rebound at 5:54.

Corvi finished with 32 saves in the Wesleyan net for the second straight net. Sophomore Brianne Wheeler (Brussels, Ontario) had 22 stops for Colby.

This marks the first time since the 2004-05 season that the teams split the season series. Wesleyan swept the season series in 2009-10, with Colby doing the honors in the other five campaigns.
 
COMPLETE BOX SCORE: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclbwes1.f11