NEW LONDON, Conn. – Sophomore Camille Phelan (Medfield, Mass.) and senior Erin Dillon (Hazlet, N.J.) each factored into three goals to propel the Connecticut College women's ice hockey team to a 5-2 season-opening victory over Becker on Saturday evening at Dayton Arena.
 
The Camels, who last played on Feb. 29th, 2020 in a conference tournament matchup against Amherst, became the first NESCAC program to begin competing this winter.
 
The teams traded goals in the first period. After Dillon put the Camels on the board at the 2:42 mark, Katie Puumala came in all alone on a breakaway and recorded a shorthanded goal to even the score.
 
Connecticut College (1-0), however, responded with three unanswered goals coming off the stick of three different players to take control of the scoreboard again. Sophomore Caroline O'Keefe (Winthrop, Mass.) most notably capped the run by intercepting a pass and capitalizing on the strong forecheck with just over a minute remaining in the second.
 
Despite giving up a second shorthanded marker at the 4:15 mark of the third, the Camels had a quick response when Dillon and Phelan connected for the third time just 15 seconds later. The hosts outshot their opponent by a 19-9 margin in the third period to run away with the victory.
 
Sophomore Abby Wieczorek (Winnetka, Ill.) made 16 stops to pick up the victory between the posts for Connecticut College. Amber Lee of Becker (3-4) suffered the loss in a 49-save effort.
 
The two teams will complete a home-and-home series on Sunday afternoon in Worcester at 3:40 p.m.