Women’s ice hockey (3- 1-0, 3-1-0 NESCAC) swept last weekend’s doubleheader against the Connecticut College Camels (2-3-1, 1-3-0 NESCAC). In their first game on the road, the Ephs posted a 3-0 shutout — their first shutout of the season — on Dec. 1 and followed the victory with a 2-1 win over the Camels on Dec. 2. With the victories, the Ephs stand at second in the NESCAC and No. 20 nationally among NCAA Div. III teams.
The weekend also marked the first time the Ephs have swept a NESCAC series since defeating Hamilton in a doubleheader on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, 2021. Now on a three-game win streak, the Ephs are feeling the forward momentum, Sophia Hoppe ’25 told the Record.
“Having that win on Friday was a big confidence boost for the team,” she said. “We’ve been able to break that pattern that we’ve fallen into, and … it definitely hypes us up going into the rest this season.”
The first game of the series began with a highly contested first period, but performances from both goaltenders kept the game deadlocked. The Camels took the first shot of the game, which was stopped by goaltender Erin Pye ’26. The Ephs responded with a flurry of shots, all denied by Connecticut College’s Jillian Wexler.
The game remained scoreless until midway through the second period, when a breakaway goal from Leah Rubinshteyn ’26 put the Ephs on the scoreboard at 9:38. The Ephs seized the game in the third period, capitalizing on offensive zone entries and scoring back-to-back. At 5:08, Quinn Dawson ’25 scored on a slap shot to increase the lead to 2-0. Three minutes later, Rubinshteyn beat Wexler with an over-the-shoulder shot, capitalizing on a power play and cementing the score at 3-0.
According to Hoppe, the Ephs’ defensive focus has defined the season’s strong start, putting them over the top this weekend. “We’ve been really on top of it in terms of forecheck and making sure that we’re winning a lot of battles, especially in our play on Friday and Saturday,” she said. “Being the first ones to the puck — I think that was where the biggest difference for us came.”
The Ephs were led by a key performance from Pye, who maintained the team’s lead despite being outshot on offense by a 30-19 margin. Pye totaled 30 saves to keep the Camels scoreless and earn her first shutout victory of the season. Wexler totaled 16 saves for the Camels and ended the game with a 0.842 save percentage.
In the second game of the series, the Ephs re-upped their offense, outshooting the Camels 26-24. Claire Murphy ’26 opened the lead for the Ephs midway through the first period. Murphy recovered a puck in the neutral zone and drove it down to pierce the Camels’ defense, firing a wrist shot past Connecticut College’s Devon Galizio.
In the second period, the Ephs’ defensive line denied a power play opportunity, and Pye kept the Camels at bay by stopping seven shots to keep the period scoreless.
The third period saw the Camels come back with a vengeance, trading possession with the Ephs and pressing on offense. A penalty from the Camels created a power play opportunity, but their penalty kill unit stifled the Ephs’ drive. Pye denied all but one of the 24 shots on goal, including 10 in the third period, to keep the Ephs alive and earn a 0.958 save percentage for the game.
“Erin has been a rockstar in net,” co-captain Claire DeVries ’24 said of Pye’s performance. “We all trust her to be consistent, steady, and confident, especially in the most hectic moments. She knows herself and what she’s gotta do to help us win.”
Hoppe echoed a similar sentiment. “Something that definitely helped the wins against Conn was our high success rate in both the power play and penalty kills, especially with Leah’s fire short-handed goal on Friday,” she added. “Scoring on the PK doesn’t happen that often with a man down, and having that goal to start really hyped the team and got the momentum rolling for the rest of the game.”
The Ephs will head to Plymouth, N.H., to face the Plymouth State University Panthers (3-4) on Dec. 9. On the eve of their first games outside the conference, the Ephs trail No. 1 Amherst (5-0-1, 3-0-1 NESCAC) by a half-game in the NESCAC. Last season, Amherst advanced to the NCAA Div. III Championship game and lost to Gustavus Adolphus College 2-1 in triple overtime.
Looking ahead, DeVries said that the Ephs are proud of the win but are not resting on their laurels coming out of the weekend. “We feel great about the sweep, but we also know that we have a lot more to give as a team, so we’re just going to use this confidence to keep building our strengths and focus on playing consistently,” she said.
Still, the Ephs are proud to end the weekend on a sweep. “Having that show in the rankings is always rewarding,” Hoppe said. “I think that just further contributes to the general high that the team has right now.”
