Colby College goalies Nina Prunster, left, and Cierra San Roman speak with head coach Holley Tyng during a practice earlier this season at Alfond Rink. The Mules face Amherst in the NESCAC semifinals Saturday. Morning Sentinel file photo
WATERVILLE — For only the second time since 2009, the Colby College women’s hockey team has reached the semifinals if its league tournament. The Mules have an eye on more than just making a token appearance.
A big part of the reason Colby (15-5-5 overall) owns the second seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference semifinals, which take place Saturday on the campus of Middlebury College in Vermont, has been the Mules’ focus on defending. As is often the case, that defending begins in Colby’s own crease.
Sophomore Nina Prunster grew from an outstanding netminder a year ago into one of the nation’s elite this winter. The Austrian owns the 11th-lowest goals against average in NCAA Division III at 1.14 this season and her save percentage of .953 is seventh in the country. Among goalies with a minimum of 700 minutes of work this season, those rankings move up to ninth and fifth, respectively.
“Last year helped a lot, just adjusting to the speed of the game,” Prunster said following the team’s practice Thursday at Alfond Rink. “It was a lot different than prep school. Having a year without all the pressure on me really helped a lot, and just getting to know the team a little better was good for me. It helped me find my role on the team.”
Only once previously has Colby played for the NESCAC title, in 2008. That season the Mules lost to Amherst, whom they will meet in Saturday’s second semifinal at 4 p.m. Top seed and host Middlebury — ranked No. 2 nationally in Division IIII — meets No. 4 Hamilton in the earlier game.
“As a team, we’ve done a very good job of being in the present, being where your feet are, and playing in the moment,” said Colby head coach Holley Tyng, who was named the NESCAC Coach of the Year earlier this week. “Our first focus is obviously Amherst. If we can get past Amherst on Saturday, we’ll look at who our opponent will be on Sunday.
“But we’re there for a reason. We’re wearing our home whites on Saturday for a reason. That’s new for us, but I think we’re definitely going in with the comfort and the confidence and the attitude that we can do this.”
Advancing to the NESCAC championship game could pay off elsewhere, too. Currently, Colby has an outside shot at making the 10-team NCAA Tournament field. The Mules jumped five spots this week to eighth in the PairWise rankings after their quarterfinal win over Bowdoin.
The PairWise is a formula which mimics that used by the NCAA’s selection committee to set its tournament fields.
If Colby advances through the NESCAC semifinals Saturday, it will do so with the same recipe it has all season.
The Mules have allowed the opposition only 1.44 goals per game this season — 36 total goals across 25 games — with seven shutouts. Tyng is blessed with three capable netminders on the Colby roster, though the 5-foot-10 Prunster has emerged as the team’s No. 1 this postseason.
“When I think about our team defense, our goaltenders are a huge part of that,” Tyng said. “(Prunster) is calm. She’s quiet. She’s confident. It’s composure, but it’s also confidence. She’s big, so she doesn’t have to move that much. She doesn’t overcompensate on shots. Even if she overplays an angle a little bit, they’ve still got nothing to shoot at.”
Prunster’s physical skills were rarely questioned during her first season on Mayflower Hill, when she posted a 1.63 GAA and .935 save percentage. What she worked on during the summer was above her shoulders.
“I worked a lot on the mental side of the game, which I think helped me a lot. It gave me a lot of confidence,” Prunster said. “I think that’s a lot of it. … (The team) can play a little more freely if they know they have a goalie in net that can stop pucks. There’s a lot of shots I should be able to save, but they’re still blocking shots and throwing their bodies in front of things to make my life easier.
“It’s a both ways kind of thing. They’re doing their job and giving me confidence, and I’m doing my job and giving them confidence.”
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