By Claire Gulbin '22

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College women's ice hockey team suffered a 3-2 overtime loss in a battle with Bowdoin on Saturday afternoon at Dayton Arena.
 
The first period consisted of an even amount of scoring opportunities for Bowdoin (8-5, NESCAC 4-4) and Connecticut College. A little over halfway through the period, Bowdoin's Julia Sergenor got control of the puck from behind the net and was able to find teammate Angelina Joyce wide open in front of the net for the first goal of the game.
 
Connecticut College then responded quickly with a power play goal from Melissa Alexander (Bellingham, Mass.) assisted by Rylie Griffith (West Hartford, Conn.) in less than two minutes. Both teams took eight shots on goal in the first period.
 
The Polar Bears controlled possession for most of the second period and tested the Camel defense with 10 shots on goal and 20 shots total. Despite Connecticut College also finding multiple scoring opportunities late in the period, both teams were unable to find the back of the net. Camel goalkeeper Carly Denora (Verona, N.J.) made 10 saves in the period to help keep the score even at 1-1 going into the final 20 minutes of play.
 
At the 6:07 mark, however, Bowdoin's Allison Britt was able to intercept a misfired pass in front of the goal and regain the lead for the Polar Bears. But once again, the Camels answered in no time by capitalizing on a power play. The goal came at 8:46 from senior Natalie Witkowski (Cheshire, Conn.) off a beautiful pass from Melanie Conca (Nutley, N.J.) to even the score. Neither team was able to score again in the final minutes of regulation, and the game was sent into overtime tied at 2-2. 
 
After seven shot attempts by Bowdoin within the first three minutes of overtime, Julia Sergenor registered her second goal of the day and the game winner at 3:21 by sliding the puck past the goalkeeper on a 3-on-1 scenario to give the Polar Bears the sudden death victory.
 
Denora made 28 saves for Connecticut College, and Bowdoin's Danielle Marquez made 16 stops in the victory. 
 
Connecticut College (4-7-2, NESCAC 0-6) will host Wesleyan next Friday at 7:00 p.m.