New London — What transpired on Friday night could fall into the upset category.

After all, Connecticut College knocked off the third-ranked women's hockey team in the country.

The No. 9 Camels certainly don't look at their 3-1 victory over Middlebury College that way.

They've reached the point in their program's development that they expect to win against any team in the powerful New England Small College Athletic Conference, even the defending champion Panthers.

"It's not an upset, no," said senior co-captain Julie Beattie, whose hard shot from near the red line opened the scoring just one minute, 59 seconds in. "We knew what they were coming in and they should have expected us to come in just as hard."

Conn blitzed Middlebury (3-2, 2-1) with three first-period goals and then relied on an aggressive defense and senior goalie Katherine Chester's terrific play to hold on. Chester finished with 36 saves.

"We have a good team, we're playing at home and we always get up to play Middlebury," explained coach Kristin Steele about her team's fast start, "so I think they were definitely ready."

Four games into the season, the Camels (4-0, 3-0) have made a strong statement by posting three wins over two top 10 teams and moving into first place in the NESCAC. They opened the season with a sweep of then No. 7 Amherst.

Those victories over Amherst helped earn Conn College its highest ranking ever this week (No. 9).

"It's amazing for our team morale," Chester said. "We've been in this league for so long. Now we're starting to really establish ourselves. It gives all the girls a lot of confidence. It's a really great start."

The Camels were the better team on Friday, seizing a 3-0 lead in the first period. Junior Anna Bleck followed up Beattie's goal by scoring off a rebound at the 7:56 mark. Sophomore Jordan Cross had the assist.

Junior Katlyn Paiva extended the lead to 3-0 by finishing off a nice move. It was set up by Kyla Floresca, who's part of a talented 10-member freshmen class.

"It was awesome to have that lead," Chester said. "But it's also a little unsettling at the same time. You don't want to get too comfortable with the lead. We knew coming into the second period that they were going to come out really hard."

The Camels had to weather the storm in the second period, as Middlebury pressed to climb back into the game. The Panthers peppered 14 shots on Chester, who made several spectacular saves.

With Middlebury on the power play, an open Jessica Young collected a cross-ice pass and unloaded a hard shot. An alert Chester quickly slid across the crease to make a nifty glove save.

A short time later, Chester blocked Elizabeth Wulf's close range attempt from a tough angle and then covered the loose puck in traffic.

Perhaps her best save came late in the period, as she stuffed Maddie Winslow's short-handed breakaway attempt. While trying to cover the puck, Young raced in and knocked in the rebound to cut the gap to 3-1 with 1:22 left.

Conn killed a penalty early in the third period and Chester made a tremendous stop on a short-handed attempt. Her teammates limited quality chances from close range.

"They got some really good shots in tight," Steele said. "Obviously, Chester helps us out with that. But we kept them to those few rebound shots and they didn't get a lot of quality shots from the outside. We blocked a lot of shots."

A stingy defense has sparked the Camels so far this season. They've allowed just four goals, including just two against ranked teams, in four games.

The two teams meet again Saturday at Dayton Arena. Game time is 3 p.m.

g.keefe@theday.com