26 and counting
No. 1 Boston College added three more wins to its perfect season. To start its week, Meghan Grieves scored twice on assists by Tori Sullivan, and Katie Burt turned away 29 shots to record a 2-0 shutout of Harvard.
The Eagles returned home to sweep Vermont, 6-2 and 6-1. In the opener, Dana Trivigno had a goal and three assists, while Alex Carpenter scored twice. Carpenter potted two more with a helper on Saturday. She now has 250 career points, good for seventh in the NCAA era.
Tight margins in the CHA
The lower-ranked team gained at least a split in all three series played in the CHA. The six teams combined to score just 18 goals in the six games on the weekend, and half the games went to overtime.
Penn State was the only team to gain ground in the league, taking three of four points from Robert Morris. Bella Sutton was the hero for the Nittany Lions on Friday, scoring at 3:41 of OT to give her team a 3-2 win. Sarah Quaranta had assisted on third-period tallies by Mikaela Lowater at 12:54 and Bittany Howard at 14:40 to bring the Colonials back from a two-goal deficit. Hannah Bramm built the PSU lead, converting assists from Amy Petersen in each of the first two stanzas. Celine Whitlinger earned the win with 33 saves. RMU’s Rikki Meilleur forced overtime again on Saturday with her unassisted goal with 33 seconds remaining in regulation. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, and Hannah Ehresmann finished with 40 saves for Penn State, while Jessica Dodds made 27 stops for the Colonials. Petersen had given the Nittany Lions a third-period lead, after Bramm and Ashley Vesci traded goals in the first frame.
Goals were scarce at Lindenwood. On Friday, it wasn’t until the game’s final minute that Mercyhurst’s Sarah Robello broke through on a power play. Jaclyn Arbour added an empty-netter with nine seconds left, giving Sarah McDonnell, who stopped 25 shots, a 2-0 shutout win. Shara Jasper scored the Lions’ only goal of the weekend 4:44 into Saturday’s game, but that proved to be enough for a 1-0 win, thanks to 35 saves by Nicole Hensley.
Syracuse was unable to gain ground on the Lakers, however, because the Orange had problems of their own versus RIT. Carly Payerl’s second goal of the day a minute into overtime gave the Tigers a 2-1 victory on Friday. Jess Paton had the primary assist, as she did on Payerl’s earlier goal that tied the game after Nicole Ferrara had given Syracuse a lead. Jetta Rackleff made 41 saves to garner the win. The Orange bounced back with a 3-0 win, getting goals from Dakota Derrer, Heather Schwarz, and Alysha Burriss, and 14 saves from Jenn Gilligan.
Favorites prevail in the WCHA
Underdogs had their moments in the WCHA, but not enough of them, as the favored teams took 23 of the 24 points awarded.
No. 1 Wisconsin again had difficulty with No. 8 North Dakota, but this time, the Badgers were able to overcome the adversity and swept in front of two sellout crowds. Erika Sowchuk scored Saturday’s only goal 3:34 into the contest, assisted by Rachel Jones and Jenny Ryan. Ann-Renée Desbiens took over from there, stopping all 29 shots that the Fighting Hawks mustered. Shelby Amsley-Benzie made 31 saves to keep UND close. Wisconsin triumphed, 3-1, on Sunday, when Emily Clark scored the winning goal on a power play with 72 seconds left. Annie Pankowski added an empty-net goal and assisted on the other two tallies for the Badgers. Clark had two helpers as well. Sarah Nurse gave Wisconsin the first lead of the game, before Becca Kohler responded with UND’s only tally of the weekend. Amsley-Benzie finished with 31 saves for the second day, while Desbiens stopped 27 shots to earn her 22nd win of the season.
No. 3 Minnesota’s 7-0 victory at St. Cloud State on Friday gave Brad Frost his 279th win for the Gophers, moving him ahead of Laura Halldorson for most in program history. Sarah Potomak had two goals and three assists, while Dani Cameranesi had a four-point game, and Hannah Brandt, Kelly Pannek, and Kelsey Cline all finished with three points. Amanda Leveille saved all 18 shots to get the shutout. The Gophers power play converted on three of five opportunities on Saturday as they finished off the sweep, 4-2. Milica McMillen, Cara Piazza, Taylor Williamson, and Cameranesi hit the net for Minnesota, while Lauren Hespenheide and Suvi Ollikainen got the Huskies on the board. Brandt finished the weekend with 267 career points, moving her into fourth place on the NCAA list.
No. 7 Bemidji State swept at Minnesota-Duluth, 3-2 and 2-0. Lara Stalder scored Friday’s first and last goals for the Bulldogs, but Kristin Huber equaled that with a pair of power-play tallies for the Beavers, who went ahead to stay on freshman defenseman Melissa Hunt’s first goal of her career. Ivana Bilic of BSU and UMD’s Ashleigh Brykaliuk contributed a pair of helpers. Brittni Mowat got the shutout on Saturday by making 27 stops, supported by goals from Kaitlyn Tougas and Madison Hutchinson. Maddie Rooney saved 26 shots for the Bulldogs.
Ohio State kept Minnesota State winless in the league on the season. The teams skated to a 3-3 draw on Friday, with OSU winning the shootout. Julia McKinnon and Claudia Kepler scored twice with two assists in the Buckeyes’ 8-3 Saturday win. OSU’s Katie Matheny also had a pair of goals, as did Emily Antony, who finished with three goals in the series for the Mavericks.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
No. 4 Quinnipiac skated away from Boston University, 6-1. Taylar Cianfarano led the attack with two goals and an assist, and Kristen Tamberg had one goal in her three points.
No. 6 Northeastern took both ends of a home-and-home series over Connecticut, 4-0 and 7-3. Brittany Bugalski made 15 saves to claim the shutout in the opener. Jordan Krause had three assists and McKenna Brand scored and added an assist. On Saturday, Kendall Coyne scored twice with two helpers, defenseman Lauren Kelly had two goals and an assist, and Brand tallied once with two assists.
No. 5 Clarkson got a short-handed goal from Olivia Howe and an unassisted tally by Rhyen McGill, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie at Cornell when Jess Brown scored a third-period goal. Hanna Bunton had opened the scoring for the Big Red, who got 34 saves from Paula Voorheis. Shea Tiley made 25 saves for the Golden Knights.
Clarkson came from behind to down No. 10 Colgate on Saturday, 3-2, handing Raiders’ netminder Julia Vandyk her first loss in 13 decisions. Geneviève Bannon scored the final two goals for the Golden Knights after McGill had started the rally.
Colgate started the weekend with a tie of its own, 1-1, versus St. Lawrence, gained when Breanne Wilson-Bennett converted on a power play midway through the third period. Grace Harrison saved the other 16 shots from the Raiders, who got 23 stops from Vandyk, marred only by a first-period goal for SLU’s Kennedy Marchment.
Other action
St. Lawrence finished with a three-point weekend when it defeated Cornell, 5-1. Marchment and Hannah Miller scored in the first period, and Jenna Marks grew the lead to three with a short-handed tally. Anna Zorn got the Big Red on the board, but the Saints pulled away on empty-net goals by Justine Reyes and Amanda Boulier. Harrison made 19 saves to get the win.
Harvard’s Emerance Maschmeyer made 23 saves to shut out Dartmouth, 2-0. Karly Heffernan and Lexie Laing provided the goals.
Katie Rooney’s hat trick with an assist highlighted Rensselaer’s 6-2 win over Brown.
Melissa Black’s 39 saves weren’t enough to keep Union from falling to Yale, 2-1. Jamie Haddad and Courtney Pensavalle scored for the Bulldogs after Kathryn Tomaselli had given the Dutchwomen an early lead.
Brown’s Erin Conway scored an extra-attacker goal to tie Union, 2-2, and deny the Dutchwomen their first victory yet again. Lizzy Otten had put Union on the brink of victory with a shorthanded goal, after Tomaselli and Sam Donovan had traded goals.
Katelyn Rae scored twice with an assist and Samantha Ridgewell made 26 saves to get her fourth win when Merrimack downed Brown, 4-1.
Boston University swept a home-and-home series from Providence, 5-1 and 4-2. Rebecca Leslie scored twice and added an assist in the opener. Blair Parent struck twice to give the Friars a two-goal lead on Sunday, but the Terriers rallied behind second-period goals from Maddie Elia, Rebecca Russo, Mary Grace Kelley, and Victoria Bach.
New Hampshire swept Maine, 5-1 and 3-0. Jonna Curtis had a goal and a three-point game on Saturday. Kyra Smith turned in a 32-save shutout on Sunday, supported by a goal and an assist from Carlee Toews.
