(1) Wisconsin at St. Lawrence
The Saints jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the defending national champions, scoring 63 seconds apart in the first period. First Alexia Côté then Rylan Haslam found the back of the net to give SLU the lead. Finley McCarthy got Wisconsin on the board before the end of the period, but the Saints had a 2-1 lead at intermission. The break seemed to knock things loose for the Badgers. Kelly Gorbatenko and Cassie Hall scored before eight minutes passed in the second to give Wisconsin a 3-2 lead. Rosalie Tremblay scored her first career goal on the power play to extend the lead to 4-2 at the second break. In the third, Charlotte Pieckenhagen and Gorbatenko each scored to secure the 6-2 win for the Badgers. But the win was tempered by an injury to goalie Ava McNaughton, who left the game in the second after a collision with a SLU player put her in an awkward split. She appeared to be holding her hip and was replaced in the game by Rhyah Stewart. In the second game, Maggie Scannell’s rebound goal four minutes in was the only goal of the opening frame. In the second, Haley Box had her first collegiate goal, Scannell scored a second and then Gorbateno scored back to back power play goals about a minute apart and the game was blown wide open. Hall scored in the third to secure the 6-0 win. Stewart earned her first career shutout
(2) Ohio State at (4) Penn State
Despite absolutely dominating possession, hemming in PSU and holding them to just one shot in the first and eight in the second, the Nittany Lions managed to hang around and force overtime against OSU on Thursday. Morgan Stickney was spectacular for Penn State in her debut, racking up 44 saves. After a scoreless first, Kaia Malachino knocked in a rebound from a Jenna Raunio shot to put the Buckeyes on the board. But they could not break through again. Penn State regrouped and just 12 seconds into the third, Grace Outwater tied the game. Neither team could find the game-winner in regulation. But just 46 seconds into the overtime, Joy Dunne won the game for OSU to give them a 2-1 victory. On Friday, things were a little more even and Penn State capitalized early as Outwater scored four minutes in. Hilda Svensson tied the game a few minutes later on the power play to make it a 1-1 game. In the second, Rylee Bartz’s wrister gave Ohio State the lead. The Buckeye defense took over in the third, holding PSU to just three shots and pressuring hard. OSU took a 2-1 win and earned the weekend sweep.
(6) Quinnipiac at Maine
The Black Bears out-shot the Bobcats 36-31 on Friday and started out strong as Lily Fetch put them on the board late in the first. But Quinnipiac really found their stride in the second as Ella Johnson scored on the power play to tie the game. Alex Law’s goal later in the third secured the 2-1 win for Quinnipiac. On Saturday, Law and Aynsley D’Ottavio scored in the first to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead. Paige Fong pulled one back for Maine 6:29 into the second. But Rosalie Breton scored her first career goal and Kahlen Lamarche added an empty netter to secure a 4-1 win and weekend sweep for Quinnipiac.
(7) Connecticut at St. Cloud State
SCSU scored the first big upset of the season in a dominant fashion on Friday and followed that up by doing it again Saturday and Alice Sauriol was a big reason why. UConn got on the board first as Jessie Pellerin made it 1-0 less than three minutes in. Sauriol scored her first of the weekend with an amazing effort that went the length of the ice to tie the game 1-1. She scored her second early in the third on a wrister after what could have been a busted play and Laura Zimmerman found the back of the net to make it 3-1. Chelsea Tiller scored her first collegiate goal to close the gap for UConn to make it 3-2. But Sofianna Sundelin’s goal late in the third pushed the lead to 4-2 and that’s how it would stay as St. Cloud took the upset win. In the second game, Sundelin put back a rebound from a shot by Maélie Pion to put SCSU up 1-0 in the opening minutes of the game. Caileigh Tiller got her first collegiate goal to tie things up a few minutes later, but Sauriol continued her spectacular weekend, cleaning up the puck after Siiri Yrjölä’s wrap-around was stopped to make it 2-1. Payton Holloway’s backhander early in the second extended the St. Cloud lead to 3-1. Less than a minute later Marie Moran’s one-timer off a great pass from Pion make it a 4-1 game. Livvy Dewar pulled one back for Connecticut, but they could not comeplete the comeback as SCSU took the weekend sweep, their first over a ranked team in two years.
(15) Mercyhurst at (9) Minnesota Duluth
The UMD Bulldogs earned a 2-0 victory on Friday night that carried more weight than simply starting their season off well – it was the 600th win in program history. Minnesota Duluth outshot Mercyhurst 13-3 in the opening frame but could not break through. Mercyhurst found their footing and pushed back in the second, but UMD got on the board with a pretty five-hole goal from Caitlin Kraemer. Rae Mayer added a late empty-netter to ice the game and give the Bulldogs the win. The victory seemed to bolster UMD, who came out even hotter on Saturday, Kraemer scored the first two goals off a one-timer and then a backhander to make it 2-0 after one. The middle frame was scoreless, but goals form Zoey Krock and Ida Karlsson in the third secured the 4-0 win for Minnesota Duluth. Goaltender Ève Gascon moved into a tie for the program’s all-time career shutout with the 23rd of her career and second in as many games.
RIT at (12) Clarkson
The Golden Knights doubled up RIT on shots 42-21 and took control of this game early. Ciara Lang and Layla Matthew scored less than a minute apart in the first half of the opening frame to give Clarkson a 2-0 lead. Zoe Ziotas cut into the lead late in the second to make it 2-1 but Sara Manness scored her first with less than a minute on the clock to restore the two goal lead at the second intermission. Midway through the third Kennedy Sisson, Matthews and Manness each scored to push the lead to 6-1. Addie Alvarex and Laura Dyke scored in the final three minutes of the game for the Tigers, but RIT ran out of time to mount a comeback and Clarkson took the 6-3 win. The second game was close fough over the first period, with the Golden Knights taking a narrow edge in shots 9-7, but neither team lit the lamp. Clarkson regrouped at the intermission and come out firing. Raedyn Spademan found the back of the net twice in the opening minutes of the second to kick start the scoring. The first came from a great foot race won by Matthew and the second was a put back of a rebound from Matthew’s shot. Shelby Laidlaw made it 3-0 off a pass from Spademan. Alvarez ruined the shutout and got RIT on the board with a power play goal near the end of the second. They blew things open in the third, scoring twice in the opening minute of the frame. Sisson scored on a snipe from the slot before Spademan completed her hat trick 17 seconds later, picking up another rebound and scoring. From there, it was the Jessie Pellerin show, and she completed a natural hat trick in under nine minutes. She was opportunistic, first putting back a rebound, then capitalizing on a turnover and lastly, getting behind the defense on a breakaway. The hat trick secured an 8-1 win and weekend sweep for Clarkson.
RPI at (14) Minnesota State
The Mavericks had a record crowd and thought they scored first, but the goal was called back for offides. Then, in the final ten seconds of the first period, Linn Mattsson scored with a top shelf shot to make it 1-0 RPI at the first intermission. Lauren Zawoyski scored 61 seconds into the 2nd to tie the game on a 5-on-3 power play. Later in the frame, Neely Hawn scored from the point to make it 2-1 Mankato. Just 36 seconds later, Makayla Moran cleaned up a loose puck in front of the net to make it a 3-1 lead. Ayla Puppe’s third-period goal closed out the 4-1 win for Minnesota State. In the second game, Keira Johnson took advantage of an early power play for the Engineers to give RPI the 1-0 lead. A few minutes later Georgia Bailey doubled the lead to make it 2-0. Zoe Lopez’s goal at the middle of the frame got Mankato on the board to make it 2-1. In the second, Merycury Bischoff scored a pair of goals to give the Mavericks the 3-2 lead. Gracyn Mackay’s shot through traffic early in the third tied the game 3-3, but MSU was not done. Lopez scored her second off some pretty stickhandling to secure the game-winner. Lucie Tenenbaum’s empty-netter completed the 5-3 win and weekend sweep.