CLINTON, N.Y. — Middlebury College women’s hockey split two NESCAC games at Hamilton this past weekend before tying host non-league rival Norwich on Tuesday.
The (13-2-3, 8-1-1 NESCAC) Panthers remain in first place in the league and will host league foe Trinity (5-9-4, 0-8-2 NESCAC) this Friday and Saturday. They also retained their No. 2 ranking in NCAA Division III.
This past Saturday the Panthers blanked Hamilton, 3-0, dropping the Continentals to 11-7, 5-5 in NESCAC play. Panther goalie Lin Han stopped 26 shots, and the Panthers broke open a scoreless game with two second-period goals 
In the second period Katie Hargrave made it 1-0 at 11:34, cashing in a Jenna Letterie feed after Letterie stole the puck behind the Hamilton net. Claudia Vira made it 2-0 with a power-play goalie 2:29 later. Vira netted her first goal by burying the rebound of a Madie Leidt shot from the left side. Leidt added an empty-net shorthanded goal in the final minute, poking the puck home while being tripped from behind. Continental goalie Sidney Molnar made 19 saves.
On Friday the Continentals dealt the Panthers their first NESCAC loss of the season, 2-0. Hamilton’s Missy Segall made it 1-0 in the second period, and Segall added a shorthanded empty-net goal late in the game. Han made 18 stops, while Molnar made 29 saves.
On Tuesday No. 7 Norwich (15-4-2, ranked No. 7 in D-III) and the Panthers skated to a 2-2 tie in a game in which Middlebury outshot the Cadets by 39-26.
Hargrave gave Middlebury the lead midway through the second period, sidestepping a defender at the blue line, skating in and firing a shot home. Leidt made it 2-0 with a power-play goal with 40 seconds left in the period, finding the net from the left circle.
Norwich scored twice in the final 9:13 to forge the tie. Sophie McGovern scored from a scramble at 10:47, and on a power play at 15:18 Mikah Baptiste’s shot through traffic from the left found the back of the net.
Panther goalie Anna Goldstein (24 saves) denied an Amanda Conway breakaway in the final minute of regulation, and the Panthers killed a penalty in overtime. Cadet goalie Alexa Berg made 37 saves.