MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College women’s hockey team swept two games from visiting NESCAC foe Wesleyan this past weekend to remain unbeaten in league play and hold onto first place.
The Panthers moved to 13-4-3 overall and 9-0-3 in NESCAC action, just ahead of Amherst, which is 15-1-3 overall and 9-1-2 in the league. Middlebury, unbeaten in 25 straight league games and ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division III last week, will visit Colby for two games this weekend before concluding its regular season with a home-and-home series with third-place Williams on Feb. 19 and 20.
On this past Friday, the Panthers defeated Wesleyan (4-14-1, 1-10-1) by 4-2.
Wesleyan opened the scoring 6:55 into the game, when Cici Frattazio tipped in a Madzie Carroll wrister from the left point.  
The Panthers tied the game at 14:37 of the period on a play that started at their own blue line. Grace Jennings swiped the puck away from a Wesleyan player, and Jessica Young collected it, raced up the left side and beat Cardinal goalie Laura Corcoran.
The Panthers took a 2-1 lead at 9:30 of the second period, when Maddie Winslow slid a pass behind Corcoran to the left post for Shanna Hickman to sweep the puck in.
Winslow made it 3-1 at 11:15 of the third, stepping out front after taking a drop pass from Young behind the Cardinal net.
Wesleyan’s Jenny Robinson made it 3-2 with a power-play goal. Young added an insurance goal into an empty net with 35 seconds remaining. The Panthers outshot the Cardinals by 33-14. Dreher made 12 saves, while Corcoran made 29 stops.
On Saturday, the Panthers blanked the Cardinals, 5-0, running their all-time record vs. Wesleyan to 50-0-3.
The Panthers scored 37 seconds into the contest. Elizabeth Wulf netted the goal from the doorstep after taking a short pass from behind the net from Young.
Jennings doubled the lead with 3:35 left in the opening period. She took a drop pass from Katherine Jackson and beat Cardinal goalie Corrine Rivard with a shot over her left shoulder.
The Panthers added two goals in the second period. Hickman tallied the first by swatting in a centering pass from Winslow at 5:11. Winslow made it 4-0 by using a backhander to beat Rivard with 27 seconds left in the period after Young created a turnover just inside the Wesleyan blue line.
On a third-period power play, Winslow collected a puck in the slot and fired a hard shot under the crossbar at 9:44. It was her team-leading 11th of the season. Panther goalie Kiana Verplancke earned her first collegiate shutout with 17 saves, while Rivard made 27 stops.