Bobcats skate to Nutmeg Classic Championship
No. 5 Quinnipiac defeated host Yale, 3-0, in the title game of the Nutmeg Classic. Taylor Cianfarano’s 15th goal of the season at 16:48 of the second period broke a scoreless tie. She assisted on third-period goals by Nicole Connery and Melissa Samoskevich, the latter into an empty net, to secure the win and tournament MVP honors for Cianafarano. Sydney Rossman stopped all 15 shots from the Bulldogs in her shutout, while Yale’s Hanna Mandl made 25 saves in yielding the two goals.
In its semifinal, Quinnipiac was only able to get one puck past Connecticut’s Elaine Chuli, but Nicole Kosta’s goal at 8:03 of the first period, assisted by Connery, was enough for the Bobcats to advance by a 1-0 verdict. Chuli turned away the other 32 shots, and Rossman handled all 16 shots that came her way.
Yale defeated Merrimack, 3-1, to earn its place in the final. Phoebe Staenz and Julia Yetman scored second-period goals, both assisted by Eden Murray and Jordan Chancellor. The Warriors’ Paige Sorenson broke through on a power play early in the third period to provide some hope, but Mallory Souliotis restored the two-goal margin within a minute. Mandl saved 21 shots to preserve the win.
Connecticut won the consolation game, 4-1, over Merrimack. Theresa Knutson scored twice, Margaret Zimmer and Leah Buress notched a goal apiece, and both Justine Fredette and Kayla Mee contributed a pair of helpers. Annie Belanger took over in the Huskies’ net, allowing only a third-period goal by Marie Delarbre out of the 19 Merrimack shots.
Cornell takes two at Windjammer Classic
Although the event didn’t have a true championship game with the brackets being set in advance, Cornell was the only participant to win twice at the Windjammer Classic. The Big Red bested Boston University, 4-2, on Saturday. After each team scored twice in the opening frame, Cornell added a pair of decisive goals in the middle period. Jess Brown, Pippy Gerace, and Cassandra Poudrier each scored and assisted, and Taylor Woods also tallied for the Big Red. Marlene Boissonnault made 21 saves to earn her second win. Sarah Lefort and Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga connected for the Terriers.
Poudrier led the attack with a goal and two helpers on Sunday, and Paula Voorheis made 16 saves to shut out host Vermont, 4-0. Sarah Knee, Woods, and Gerace added goals for Cornell.
In the other game on Saturday, Katie Matheny carved through the Vermont defense to score twice in Ohio State’s 5-2 victory. Julianna Iafallo, Kendall Curtis, and Lauren Spring added goals, Dani Sadek had a pair of primary assists, and Alex LaMere made 30 saves for the Buckeyes. Taylor Willard and Dayna Colang potted goals for the Catamounts.
BU scored three power-play goals in its 5-3 win over Ohio State. Victoria Bach had the most productive game of her career with two goals and two assists. Sarah Lefort, Kayla Tutino, and Rebecca Leslie all had a goal and a helper for the Terriers, while Julia McKinnon accomplished the feat for the Buckeyes.
Providence reclaims Mayor’s Cup
Providence benefited from several big performances offensively as it pulled away from Brown, 6-1, to take possession of the Mayor’s Cup. Spearheading the attack was the line of Cassidy Carels (two goals, two assists), Brooke Boquist (one goal, three assists), and Christina Putigna (one goal, two assists), with help from defenseman Lexi Romanchuk (one goal, two assists). Sam Donovan had the lone offensive highlight for the Bears, and Madison Myers saved the other 20 shots in the Friars’ crease.
More good news than bad for Harvard
No. 8 Harvard sandwiched a pair of wins around one defeat. The Crimson got the week off to a good start with a 3-0 blanking of No. 4 Northeastern, although Emerance Maschmeyer needed 31 saves to earn her shutout. Brittany Bugalski recorded the same number of stops for the Huskies, yielding markers to Sydney Daniels, Grace Zarzecki, and Jessica Harvery.
Harvard also traveled to Minnesota-Duluth and split a series. The Bulldogs took the opener, 4-2, paced by a pair of markers from Ashleigh Brykaliuk and 28 saves by Maddie Rooney. Michaela Cava and Catherine Daoust had the other tallies for UMD, and Mary Parker and Miye D’Oench countered for the Crimson. Maschmeyer made 30 saves on Saturday as Harvard struck back with a 4-1 win. Audrey Warner, D’Oench, Zarzecki, and Daniels hit the net for the victors, and Lara Stalder got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
The country’s top team rolled on, as No. 1 Wisconsin overcame Dartmouth, 4-1 and 4-0. The only offense the Big Green could muster was Lindsey Allen’s goal five minutes into Friday’s contest, assisted by Laura Stacey, to tie the game at 1-1. Jenny Ryan scored the winning goal in the second period for the Badgers, who also got tallies from Annie Pankowski, Sophia Shaver, and Emily Clark. On Saturday, Wisconsin completed the sweep with a more dominant performance, outshooting the visitors, 63-9, and Ann-Renée Desbiens registered her ninth shutout. Sarah Nurse scored twice, and Clark and Sam Cogan also hit the net, while Sydney McKibbon had three assists.
No. 2 Boston College had an easy time of it, breezing past Providence, 9-1, and Northeastern, 6-1. Haley Skarupa sparked the rout of the Friars with a hat trick and five points, and her linemates Alex Carpenter and Kenzie Kent had four and three points, respectively. Katie Burt came through with 36 saves versus the Huskies, Kent scored twice, and Carpenter added three points.
A schizophrenic series unfolded as No. 3 Minnesota swept Minnesota State, 11-1 and 2-1. Sarah Potomak tied a program record in the opener with seven points, Hannah Brandt netted a hat trick, and both she and Dani Cameranesi collected five points. The Gophers needed Cameranesi’s third goal of the weekend to fend off the upset bid by the Mavericks on Saturday, as Brianna Quade rebounded with 29 saves.
Inconsistency continued to plague No. 9 North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks got a 19-save shutout from Shelby-Amsley Benzie in Friday’s 3-0 triumph over Syracuse. Each member of the line of Meghan Dufault centering Amy Menke and Becca Kohler had two points, with the wings’ contributions including a goal apiece. Kohler scored twice on Saturday, but the Orange stormed back from an early deficit to score three times in the second period and close out a 5-2 win. Jessica Sibley had a goal and three points, Emily Costales netted two goals, and Nicole Ferrara, Heather Schwarz, and Melissa Piacentini all had two-point games.
No. 10 Colgate also had to settle for a split versus Mercyhurst. The Raiders were unable to hold an early two-goal lead on Tuesday, and Lakers scored the final four goals to win, 4-2. Taylor Accursi’s tally 6:54 into the third period was the winner, after Paige Horton and Emily Janiga had scored to tie the game. Julia Vandyk turned away all 25 shots as she and Colgate shut out Mercyhurst, 3-0. Olivia Zafuto and Lauren Wildfang scored unassisted goals in the second period. Bailey Larson’s shorthanded, empty-net goal iced the win.
Other action
St. Lawrence got decisive goals in the third period both days in sweeping Penn State, 3-2 and 4-2. On Monday, Jenna Marks scored with under two minutes left in regulation. Brooke Webster and Kennedy Marchment had provided the Saints with earlier leads, but Victoria Samuelsson and Hannah Bramm answered. Tuesday, it was the Nittany Lions taking one-goal leads on tallies by Bramm and Laura Bowman, but Megan Armstrong and Webster drew SLU even. Amanda Boulier won it at the 8:38 mark, and Kailee Heidersbach sealed the win with an empty netter. New Zealand native Grace Harrison earned her first collegiate win.
Princeton also got a sweep of a CHA squad, taking down RIT by 4-0 and 6-1 scores. Kimberly Newell backed the 19-save shutout, with goals coming from Karli Lund, Kelsey Koelzer, Morgan Sly, and Hilary Lloyd. Molly Contini scored twice on Saturday, and Taylor Thurston notched RIT’s lone goal of the weekend.
St. Cloud State stopped Lindenwood twice, 2-0 and 3-2. Katie Fitzgerald denied all 21 shots from the Lions in the opener, while Molly Illikainen and Payge Pena netted pucks. Illikainen scored twice and assisted on Brittney Anderson’s goal as the Huskies overcame Lindenwood goals by Tirra Lemoine and Shannon Morris-Reade on Sunday.
Robert Morris was the only CHA team to come out on the right side of a sweep, dropping Maine by scores of 5-1 and 3-0. Morgan’s Sakundiak’s short-handed goal to open the scoring on Friday was the only offense the Black Bears could muster against Jessica Dodds. Amber Rennie score a pair of goals on Friday, and Ashley Vesci tallied in each game.
New Hampshire edged out a series win over Rensselaer. The Engineers battled back to tie, 3-3, on Friday, when Alex Gruschow completed a hat trick with two goals in the final 4:13 of regulation, including an extra-attacker tally with 73 seconds left. Jonna Curtis, Cassandra Vilgrain, and Amy Schlagel had scored to put UNH up, 3-1. Amy Boucher scored both goals for the Wildcats in their 2-1 win on Saturday, overcoming another goal by Gruschow.
