ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The No. 3/3-ranked Elmira College women's ice hockey team is headed to Hartford, Connecticut, for a non-conference contest against the Bantams of Trinity College tonight at 7:30 p.m. inside the Koeppel Community Sports Center.
LAST TIME OUT
The Soaring Eagles and nationally-ranked Cadets of Norwich finished Saturday's top-three matchup at the Murray Athletic Center deadlocked in a 3-3 overtime draw. After surrendering an early power-play goal to Norwich, the Purple and Gold netted three unanswered goals in the first and second periods, and with a 3-1 advantage heading into the third, looked to be in good shape. However, the Cadets scored again on the power play approximately three minutes into the final period and evened the score at 3-all at the 5:47 mark. EC's
Katie Granato '19 led all players with two goals, one of which came on the power play, while
Jess Adams '21 posted the second goal of her freshman season with an unassisted breakaway tally.
NATIONAL POLLS
Although Elmira and Norwich finished in a tie on Saturday, voters in the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) Top-15 Poll named the Cadets the new No. 2 team in this week's edition of the national rankings, while dropping EC one spot to third place. The Soaring Eagles, who remained idle in this week's D3hockey.com Poll, now rank third in the nation in both polls, trailing only No. 1 Plattsburgh State (15-2-0) and No. 2 Norwich (14-1-2). The Soaring Eagles are 3-1-1 against ranked teams thus far in 2017-18.
ROAD WARRIORS
Last season, the EC women finished unbeaten on their home ice (10-0-2), however, heading into Tuesdays night's game at Trinity, the Soaring Eagles boast an unblemished 7-0-0 overall record in true road games. The most significant of those seven wins came in the second round of the UNO Classic, hosted by Plattsburgh in late November. In the tournament's title round, Elmira bested the then-No. 2 Cardinals by a 4-2 score at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. EC's most recent road win was a 5-2 triumph over Utica College on Saturday, January 13, at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
SCOUTING TRINITY
The Bantams have traversed a grueling schedule in 2017-18 and enter today's non-conference game with a 4-11-0 overall record. That includes an 0-8-0 mark against league opponents in the always-tough New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Six of the 11 losses on the docket have come against nationally-ranked opponents, and that does not factor in losses to formerly-ranked foes Amherst and Endicott. Despite these struggles, the Bantams have won two of their last three games against Manhattanville (2-1) and Castleton (3-2). The Trinity offense hasn't been firing on all cylinders this year, as the unit averages only 1.20 goals per game and has been shut out on five occasions. Senior Kelcie Finn leads the Bantams in points (8), goals (5), and game-winning goals (2).
LOOKING AHEAD
The third-ranked Soaring Eagles open the second half of the United College Hockey Conference (UCHC) schedule on Saturday, January 27, against Lebanon Valley College at 3:30 p.m. Saturday's game will be played outdoors at the Hersheypark Stadium, as part of the Dutchmen Outdoor Classic.
