Lucky number 13
Mercyhurst avenged an earlier sweep at Penn State with one of its own over the Nittany Lions to secure its 13th-straight CHA banner. The Lakers blanked PSU twice, 2-0 and 4-0.
Julia DiTondo needed just 11 saves to do the honors in the first game. Celine Whitlinger denied 34 shots at the other end of the ice, but Jenna Dingeldein and Shelby Bram got pucks past her, with Emily Janiga assisting both.
Amanda Makela registered her eighth shutout on 18 shots in game two, matching the program’s season mark. Whitlinger posted another 36 stops, but was done in by the same culprits. Janiga scored twice, while Bram and Dingeldein had a goal plus two assists, with the latter’s tally hitting an empty net.
3, 9, 139, 251
Those aren’t winning lottery numbers. No. 2 Minnesota swept No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth to clinch its third-straight and ninth overall WCHA season title. The two wins gave the team’s seniors a record 139 wins in their careers and carried Brad Frost past the 250-win plateau as coach. Two of those seniors, Rachel Ramsey and Meghan Lorence, had a goal plus two assists in Friday’s 7-1 win. The Bulldogs fought harder on Saturday, but an unassisted, third-period goal by Dani Cameranesi trumped 25 saves by UMD’s Kayla Black. Lee Stecklein hit an open net and Amanda Leveille finished with 19 stops in the 2-0 shutout.
A Beanpot and an inside track
No. 4 Harvard won the program’s 14th Beanpot by hanging the first loss of the season on No. 1 Boston College, 3-2. Miye D’Oench’s second-period, power-play goal decided the contest in the Crimson’s favor. Mary Parker scored one goal and had helpers on the other two, while Karly Heffernan had a tally and an assist. Emerance Maschmeyer was awarded MVP honors for the tournament, making 30 saves in the final and only allowing goals to Andie Anastos and Haley Skarupa.
Harvard followed that up by winning a pair of ECAC games to expand its conference lead to three points with only two games remaining. Maschmeyer yielded an early goal to No. 10 Cornell’s Emily Fulton, but came up with 23 stops in her team’s 4-1 win. Sydney Daniels scored twice, and Samantha Reber and Parker had a goal and an assist. D’Oench netted two more goals and added a helper in a 5-0 shutout of Colgate.
North Country splits
Princeton and No. 5 Quinnipiac visited No. 8 Clarkson and St. Lawrence, with the home teams prevailing on Friday but succumbing on Saturday.
It took a third-period goal by Cayley Mercer for the Golden Knights to overcome 40 saves by Kimberly Newell in Friday’s 2-1 win. The Tigers’ Molly Contini opened the scoring just over three minutes into the action, but Savannah Harmon tied it before the first intermission.
Carmen MacDonald stopped all 20 shots as the Saints put away the Bobcats, 3-0. Amanda Boulier, Jessica Hon, and Jacqueline Wand supplied the goals.
Quinnipiac turned to Sydney Rossman in net on Saturday, and she made 14 saves to blank Clarkson, 1-0. Shea Tiley stopped 27 shots to hold the Golden Knights in the game, but Cydney Roesler finally beat her with a power-play goal with 2:35 left.
Newell made 38 saves in Canton as Princeton salvaged a 4-2 win over SLU with a three-goal comeback over the final 3:09, including the winning tally by Cristin Shanahan and an empty-netter in the last minute.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
Cornell also fell at home to Dartmouth, 3-2. Jillian Saulnier scored twice to put the Big Red up for the first intermission, but Ailish Forfar’s second goal knotted the game in the middle stanza, and she assisted Lindsey Allen’s third-period game-winner. Robyn Chemago rejected 44 shots.
No. 3 Wisconsin had to settle for a split at Ohio State. The Badgers combined a two-goal performance from Blayre Turnbull with the 12th shutout for Ann-Renèe Desbiens into a 2-0 victory on Friday. The Buckeyes celebrated their Senior Night on Saturday with a 4-3 win. Claudia Kepler scored short-handed six minutes into the final frame to put OSU on top, and Danielle Gagne potted the eventual winning goal five minutes later. Wisconsin got one extra-attacker goal, but not another to tie. Stacy Danczak won with 28 saves.
No. 9 North Dakota swept St. Cloud State, 4-0 and 2-0. Shelby Amsley-Benzie stayed hot by stopping 16 shots in the first game and 22 more in the second. Becca Kohler, Meghan Dufault, Josefine Jakobsen, and Amy Menke all had a goal with a helper in the opener. Jakobsen and Menke scored again on Saturday as the Huskies’ Julie Friend stopped 36 of 38 attempts on net.
Boston College bounced back from its loss by sweeping Maine, 6-0 and 4-1. The Eagles blew open a close game Friday with four-goals in a third period that saw them outshoot the Black Bears 17-1. Dana Trivigno had a goal with two assists; Alex Carpenter had three helpers. Carpenter scored twice on Saturday.
No. 7 Boston University broke a Beanpot losing streak with a 3-1 win over Northeastern in the consolation game. Victoria Hanson made 31 saves and Marie-Philip Poulin scored two unassisted goals. The Terriers got a hat trick and an assist from Sarah Lefort and three points from Poulin to drop Providence, 6-1, with Erin O’Neil turning away 27 shots.
Other action
Syracuse blew an early four-goal lead and had to settle for a 4-4 tie with Lindenwood on Friday. Melissa Piacentini had two goals with an assist to put the Orange in front; Jordyn Constance had three helpers for the Lions. Piacentini scored and assisted to lift Syracuse to a 3-1 win on Saturday, after Constance gave Lindenwood the lead. Jenn Gilligan earned the win with 22 saves.
Deuces were wild as RIT and Robert Morris played to a couple of 2-2 ties. Four times on the weekend the Tigers took leads; four times the Colonials answered.
New Hampshire gained three of four points with a 4-2 win and a 3-3 draw at Vermont. Jonna Curtis scored two of the Wildcats’ four straight goals in the opener; Vilma Vaattovaara had 33 saves. Sarah Campbell and Dayna Colang brought the Catamounts back from two down on Saturday to deny UNH a sweep. Kayla Mork scored twice for the visitors and Vaattovaara recorded another 43 stops.
Northeastern also got three of four road points at Connecticut. Denisa Krížová scored in the final minute of Saturday’s 4-3 win, in which Kendall Coyne tallied twice with an assist. UConn’s Annie Belanger and Chloé Desjardins were kept busy with 48 and 42 saves respectively in Sunday’s 2-2 tie, as each team scored twice on the power play.
Bemidj State swept Minnesota State, 4-0 and 4-3. Brittni Mowat’s 26-save shutout bettered 53 stops from Erin Krichiver, with Kaitlyn Tougas and Kristin Huber tallying twice and Alexis Joyce adding three assists. Lauren Miller found the net twice on Saturday while Whitney Wivoda had a trio of helpers.
Dartmouth also claimed a 5-2 win at Colgate, with Karlee Odland scoring twice.
Yale won twice on home ice, shutting out Rensselaer 5-0 and posting a 4-2 win over Union. Jaimie Leonoff turned away all 31 shots from the Engineers. Jackie Raines and Eden Murray had a goal and two assists. Krista Yip-Chuck and Kate Martini contributed a goal and a helper to thwart the Dutchwomen, whose highlight was a penalty-shot goal from Erica Kelly.
RPI edged Brown, 3-2, on goals from Lauren Wash, Alexa Gruschow, and Hannah Behounek.
Brown and Union played to a 3-3 tie, thanks to a late tying goal by Union’s Jessica Kaminsky.
