(1) Wisconsin at St. Thomas
The Badgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals from Kirsten Simms, but St. Thomas was not going to go away lightly. Nicole Vallario scored with 67 seconds left in the frame and then Ellah Hause added a power play goal with nine seconds on the clock to make it 2-2 at the first intermission. Katie Kotlowski scored on the power play in the second to give Wisconsin a 3-2 lead, but Abby Promersberger responded 31 seconds later to even things up 3-3. The Badgers took advantage of extra skater opportunities as Anna Wilgren and Britta Curl each scored on the power play to pull Wisconsin out to 5-3 and earn them the win. In the second game, Lacey Eden scored on the power play in the first to give Wisconsin a 1-0 lead. In the closing seconds of the middle frame, Curl scored to extend the lead to 2-0 and her goal-scoring streak to nine games, tying the school record for longest goal streak set by Meghan Duggan in the 2010-11 season. Casey O’Brien’s breakaway goal in the third made it 3-0 and Wisconsin left with the weekend sweep.
(4) Minnesota at (2) Ohio State
Friday’s game was a back and forth affair that required overtime to find a winner. Hannah Bilka put in a rebound 24 seconds into the game to give the home team a 1-0 advantage. Abbey Murphy tied the game late in the period to make it 1-1, but the Buckeyes took the lead to intermission thanks to a shot from Sofie Lundin. The second period was scoreless as the teams looked for an advantage. In the third, Ella Huber made it 2-2. Jennifer Gardiner flipped the script from OSU’s first goal and she put in a puck originally shot by Bilka to give Ohio State a 3-2 lead. Murphy scored her second of the game on a beautiful wrap around to tie it 3-3 and force overtime. Gardiner was the hero of overtime when she took a quick feed in transition and beat Skylar Vetter to give the Buckeyes the 4-3 win. Saturday’s game looked like it might be firmly in control for the Gophers after Ella Huber scored on the power play and Josefin Bouveng doubled the lead with a steal and goal at the midpoint of the first. But Ohio State came roaring back, scoring three unanswered in the course of five minutes before the midpoint of the second. Jocelyn Amos’ two goals bookended a tally from Gardiner. Nelli Laitinen scored from the blue line on the power play early in the third to tie it up at three, but Sloane Matthews found the back of the net with 10 seconds to go in the second to give OSU the 4-3 lead at the second intermission. Laitinen scored her second power play goal early in the third to tie it 4-4. Emma Peschel scored the Buckeyes’ first player advantage goal to make it 5-4 and then Stephanie Markowski gave them a little breathing room right after, making it 6-4. Peyton Hemp pulled one back for Minnesota, but Amanda Thiele made four saves in the final minute to help secure the 6-5 win and weekend sweep for Ohio State.
(3) Colgate at RPI
RPI seemed to have an answer for everything Colgate did on Friday, responding every time the Raiders took a lead, though it took them a little while to get rolling. Colgate was up 1-0 after one thanks to Sydney Morrow and extended their lead to 2-0 midway through the second on a goal from Neena Brick. The Engineers responded immediately as Aylah Cioffi lit the lamp, which kicked her team in gear. They dominated puck possession and shot to close out the second and Maddy Papineau’s goal sent the teams to the second break tied 2-2. Kaia Malachino scored the first of her career to give Colgate a 3-2 lead, but Morgann Skoda scored less than two minutes later to tie it again. Dara Greig redirected a shot on the power play midway through the third and Colgate was able to hold off RPI once and for all to escape with a 4-3 win.
(3) Colgate at Union
The Raiders rebounded on Saturday with a decisive 4-0 win. Danielle Serdachny led the squad with an assist on each goal while Kaitlyn O’Donohoe lit the lamp twice to lead Colgate in the win.
(5) Quinnipiac at (6) Clarkson
Two of the ECAC’s biggest rivals skated to a scoreless first period on Friday as they tried to feel each other out. Laurence Frenette scored in the second to give the Golden Knights the 1-0 lead. Shelby Laidlaw picked a great time to light the lamp for her first time at Clarkson just two minutes into the third. Jaden Bogden neutralized a late penalty on her team by scoring shorthanded to extend the Golden Knights’ lead to 3-0 with fewer than five minutes to play. Quinnipiac’s Maya Labad ruined the shutout, but Clarkson handed the Bobcats their first loss of the season.
(5) Quinnipiac at (10) St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence announced their candidacy for the ECAC title this weekend with a pair of big wins. Emma-Sofie Nordström had a career-high 38 saves and the Saints were efficient on offense, scoring four goals on 24 shots to earn an upset win over the Bobcats. QU held a 15-4 shot advantage in the first frame, but the teams went into the first intermission tied 1-1. Sarah Marchand put SLU up early and Sadie Peart equalized late in the frame. A fast and furious second period ended with no additional goals. In the third, St. Lawrence took advantage on special teams as Quinnipiac struggled to stay out of the box. Kristina Bahl and Anna Segedi each scored on the power play to break the game open. Sarah Marchand’s empty-netter secured the 4-1 win.
(14) Princeton at (6) Clarkson
In a battle of defensive wills, Clarkson eked out a power play goal thanks to Nicole Gosling and that would prove to be enough to give them a win 1-0 over Princeton.
Harvard at (7) Yale
The Bulldogs outshot the Crimson 16-2 in the first, but the teams remained scoreless heading into the intermission. In the second, Sylvia Bojarski was in the right place at the back post to give Yale the 1-0 lead. With under five to play in the game, Emma DeCorby’s shot from distance deflected in to double the lead to 2-0. Harvard was able to pull one back during a 5:00 major thanks to Gwynn Lapp, but the Bulldogs killed the clock and took a 2-1 win.
Dartmouth at (7) Yale
Senior Elle Hartje recorded her 90th career assist on a first period goal to move her into the number one spot in program history – it was one of five points she recorded Saturday, with a goal and four assists, to lead Yale to a 6-0 win. Carina DiAntonio also had four assists and Stephanie Stainton added two goals and an assist in the win.
(8) Minnesota Duluth at Bemidji State
Taylor Nelson scored in the opening minutes of the first to give Bemidji State a 1-0 lead and that would hold for more than 50 minutes thanks in part to 42 saves by Abbie Thompson and 28 blocks by the Beavers’ defense. It took shuffling some lines and their approach for UMD to break through as Clara Van Wieren and former Beaver Reece Hunt scored three minutes apart late in the third to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 win. Minnesota Duluth came back on Saturday and put together an impressive game to earn their program’s 400th WCHA victory with a 6-0 win. Van Wieren had two goals and Mannon McMahon had a goal and two assists to lead UMD in the win.
(9) Cornell at Union
Maddie Leaney put the Garnet Chargers up 1-0 with about five to play in the first, but Cornell was able to quickly respond. Katie Chan scored on the power play a minute later and Avi Adam snuck a goal in just before the buzzer to give the Big Red a 2-1 lead at the end of the first. Union got into trouble with penalties in the second and Lily Delianedis and Adam made them pay with goals 90 seconds apart to push the lead to 4-1. Stephanie Bourque’s goal late in the second cut the lead to 4-2, but Union was unable to mount a comeback and Cornell took the win.
(9) Cornell at RPI
The Engineers gave their ranked opponents all they could handle this weekend and Cornell had to fight off a late charge to escape with a win. Katie Chan scored in the second to give the Big Red the 1-0 lead. Izzy Daniels added a short handed goal to push the lead to 2-0. But RPI would not go down without a fight. They outshot the Big Red in the final frame and Marah Wagner cut the lead to 2-1 with a few minutes left in the game, but ran out of time and Cornell took the 2-1 win.
(14) Princeton at (10) St. Lawrence
Kennedy Wilson showed off speed just 27 seconds into this one to give St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead. Abby Hustler scored twice on the power play in a matter of three minutes late in the first to give the Saints a 3-0 lead. Julia Gosling extended it to 4-0 early in the second before Jane Kuehl broke up the shutout for Princeton to make it 4-1. Mae Batherson’s power play goal later in the frame ended any momentum the Tigers might have gathered. Gosling and Marchand extended the lead in the third. Sarah Fillier put a late power play goal on the board, but St. Lawrence walked away with the 7-2 win.
(11) St. Cloud State at Minnesota State
Sanni Ahola allowed her first goal of the season just 44 seconds into the first game of this series, but the Huskies rallied behind her and scored three unanswered to give SCSU the 3-1 win. Kennedy Bobyck’s goal opened the scoring and gave the Mavericks a 1-0 lead. Grace Wolfe and Emma Gentry each scored later in the opening frame to give the Huskies the 2-1 lead. Taylor Lind’s power play goal early in the third made it 3-1 and St. Cloud held the lead until the end. Mankato came back stronger in the second game, putting 26 shots on net and forcing SCSU to make 23 blocks but it was the Huskies who came out on top thanks to goals from Dayle Ross and Wolfe that gave them a 2-0 win and weekend sweep.
New Hampshire at (12) Vermont
The opening game of this series was high-scoring and New Hampshire’s Charli Kettyle started it six minutes into the game to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Rose-Marie Brochu tied it for Vermont seconds before the end of the first to send the teams to the locker room tied 1-1. In the opening minute of the second, Jada Christian went bar down to put UNH up 2-1. Natálie Mlýnková scored a short hander not long after with a wrister to beat Sedona Blair and tied the game at 2. Only 66 seconds later, Kira Joudikis scored on the power play to give New Hampshire the lead once more. Mlýnková picked off the puck in the neutral zone, deked and went forehand backhand to tie the game 3-3 a few minutes later. Vermont came out for the third period with a vengeance and scored twice in the first two minutes to finally take the lead and put the game out of reach. Alaina Tanski’s roof shot proved to be the eventual game-winner and Mlýnková scored a hat trick to extend the lead to 5-3. Hailey Burns’ power play goal midway through the frame made it 6-3 and helped close out the game for the Catamounts. In game two, the teams played more than 45 minutes of scoreless hockey before Mlýnková took advantage of a UNH turnover to put Vermont up 1-0. Annie Berry tied the game for the Wildcats with a shot in the slot. It took overtime to find a winner as Evelyne Blais-Savoie picked up a rebound in the faceoff circle and put it back on net to earn the Catamounts a 2-1 win.
(13) Northeastern vs. Holy Cross
The Huskies outshot the Crusaders 21-4 in the first period and 40-26 overall, but Madison Beck blanked Northeastern for her first career shutout. Alexis Perry scored in overtime (where Holy Cross had a 3-1 shot advantage) and gave the Crusaders their second-ever win over Northeastern. In the second game, senior Lily Yovetich scored her first career goal to put Northeastern up 1-0 with about three minutes left in the first. But Holy Cross quickly responded as Perry scored her second of the weekend with a power play tally with 90 seconds left until intermission. Peyton Anderson regained the lead for Northeastern early in the second, but once again the Holy Crusaders quickly replied to tie the game again as Lane Lewis made it 2-2. Anderson scored her second of the game late in the third to put Northeastern up 3-2 and then earned her first career hat trick with an empty-netter to give the Huskies the 4-2 win.
(15) Penn State at Syracuse
The teams played to a scoreless draw in the first period, but Penn State came out firing in the second as Julie Gough and Lee Stecker put the Nittany Lions up 2-0. In the third, Alexandria Weiss cut the lead in half, but Kendall Butze’s shorthander pushed PSU back out to a two-goal lead. Darci Johal scored a power play goal in the final minute to cut the lead to 3-2, but Butze was able to hit the empty net five seconds later to secure the 4-2 win for Penn State. Gough scored in the waning seconds of the first period on Sunday to give PSU a 1-0 lead. In the second, Sarah Thompson responded in the first few minutes to tie the game 1-1. From there, the Nittany Lions began to pull away. Mya Vaslet’s goal in the second made it 2-1. In the third, Maddy Christian, Karley Garcia and Tessa Janecke extended the lead to 5-1. Rachel Teslak got one back for Syracuse, but Stella Retrum’s goal in the closing minute ensured a 6-2 win for Penn State. The victory was coach Jeff Kampersal’s 100th at Penn State.
