The Wilkes women’s hockey team suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament this past Saturday against Nazareth. Despite a strong showing in goal by current athlete of the week Audrey Milne, the Colonels bowed out of the tournament, falling 2-1 against the Golden Flyers.
A scoreless first period saw Wilkes and Nazareth trade scoring opportunities. In the first 10 minutes or so, scoring opportunities were hard to come by until the two sides figured each other out. Milne and Nazareth goaltender Mia Gonsalves combined for 15 saves in the first period.
Late on in the second period, the Colonels broke through at 16:33. Megan Bell with a tremendous effort in front of her own goal poked the puck away and raced up ice. She found Gianna Pacilio on a two-on-one, who then fired it home to make it 1-0.
Nazareth answered back at 6:30 into the third period while shorthanded. Meredith Boettcher rifled it home past Milne on the penalty kill to knot things up at a goal apiece. The rest of the third period was as tight as it could possibly be.
Both sides had the chance for the winner, with Nazareth almost scoring the game winner with just about six seconds left in regulation. Ave Meteyer had the net wide open but fired it against the post, with the puck ending up in front of Milne, who covered it up.
To begin the overtime period, Wilkes’ penalty kill unit showed up largely as they denied Nazareth a power play goal. However at 4:33 into overtime, the Golden Flyers found the game winner.
Logan Marchese picked up the puck after a Colonels turnover in neutral territory, and took it all the way to the net herself. Marchese then shot it between the legs of Milne, who got most of it, but almost like a slow motion video, the puck trickled across the goal line.
Wilkes completed their best season in program history with a record of 25-2-1, recording just two losses all year. The Colonels went 20-1-0 in conference play, featuring historic seasons from Haylee Bouchard and Nina Hudakova.
Bouchard was named the MAC player of the year and is a finalist for the Laura Hurd Award, which is given to the nation’s best player in Division III women’s hockey. Head coach Dave LaBaff was named the MAC coach of the year, and is a finalist for the CCM/ACHA DIII coach of the year.
Hudakova was named to the All-MAC first team alongside defenseman Hannah Franz. Milne was named to the second team, while Tilly Wierdsma was named an honorable mention.
