(4) Northeastern at Vermont
With a record crowd for Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse watching, both teams came out fired up on Friday. The Catamounts managed a shot off the iron, but otherwise neither team could find twine and it was scoreless going into the first intermission. The Huskies surged ahead with three goals in just over six minutes in the second period. First Éloïse Caron found space during the power play and put Northeastern on the board first to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, Stryker Zaclocki sniped a shot to double the lead to 2-0. A few minutes after that, Grace Sadura skated through a hole in the defense across the goal mouth and made it 3-0. But Vermont quickly responded as Kaylee Lewis sniped a shot of her own on the power play to cut the lead to 3-1 at the second intermission. The Catamounts continued their comeback thanks to a major penalty early in the third as Caron was sent off for spearing. Zoe Charland chased down her own rebound to make it 3-2. Sophia DeAnzeris tied the game on the same power play with her first career goal where she showed off some great stick work to corral a rebound and move from her backhand to her forehand to snap a shot past Lisa Jönsson to tie the game 3-3. Neither team could find another goal as this one went to a shootout. Lila Pannacciulli scored first for Vermont and the goalies did the rest of the work to give Vermont the shootout win. On Saturday, Lewis’ power play goal late in the first had the Catamounts up 1-0 at the first break. Grace Sadura tied the game early in the second, but Charland responded to restore UVM’s lead 2-1. Lilly McInerney tied things up later in the second for Northeastern. The Huskies pulled away early in the second as Allie Lalonde and Ella Lloyd scored to give NU the 4-2 win. They outshot Vermont 44-17 in the game.
(8) Colgate at (5) Princeton
The Tigers took control early as Angelina DiGirolamo redirected a Ellie Dimatos pass past the goalie to give Princeton a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game. Tina Scalese’s first-career goal came from a tip-in midway through the first. Chloe Brinson’s strong start continued as she scored on the power play in the second to push the lead to 3-0. Early in the second she showed off her speed, taking an outlet pass from Lucia DiGirolamo through the neutral zone and straight to net to extend the lead to 4-0. Chloe Goofers spoiled the shutout with fewer than four minutes on the clock to make it 4-1, but Lia Cericola’s empty-netter secured a 5-1 win.
(14) Cornell at (5) Princeton
Chloe Brinson scored her team-leading sixth goal midway through the second to give Princeton a 1-0 lead. Mackenzie Alexander nearly lost possession but recovered and threw the puck to net, where Brinson buried the rebound to make it 1-0. Renee Bishop tied the game for Conrell before the first intermission and that would be the only scoring for more than forty minutes. Cornell pushed on offense and outshot the Tigers 38-22 over the course of the game, but neither team could break through in regulation. Just one minute into the extra frame, the DiGirolamo sisters combined to give Princeton the win. Lucia carried the puck up the ice before dropping it behind her for Angelina, who looked for a lane and put a shot on net from the high slot. Annelies Bergmann gave up an uncharacteristic rebound that Lucia was able to clean up as she crashed the net to win the game for the Tigers, who took a 2-1 victory.
(14) Cornell at (6) Quinnipiac
The teams played a tentative first period that ended scoreless. Then both teams peppered the net in the second, taking advantage of back and forth penalties as they both put 14 shots on net. But it was Quinnipiac that capitalized on the opportunities. Avery Bairos opened the scoring burying a pass from Makayla Watson at the wide open back door on the power play to make it 1-0. Watson got a second assist as Alex Law buried the rebound from her shot to make it 2-0 Bobcats. Kahlen Lamarche scored a power play goal of her own with a sharp shot in the final minute of the period to push the lead to 3-0. Cornell lost steam in the final frame and Quinnipiac ended up outshooting the Big Red 44-24. Law added an empty-better to close out the 4-0 win for the Bobcats.
(8) Colgate at (6) Quinnipiac
The Bobcats came out swinging, scoring 29 seconds into the game and then surged to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first thanks to goals from Avery Bairos, Aynsley D’Ottavio and Cassidy Lobisser. Addison Tremel put Colgate on the board midway through the second to make it 3-1, but D’Ottavio restored the three-goal lead with her second of the game later in the middle frame. Madelin Palumbo scored two minutes into the third to make it a 4-2 game, but the Raiders couldn’t pull back more for a comeback. Kahlen Lamarche secured the 5-2 win.
(9) Clarkson at RPI
Reese Keating made 40 saves and the RPI defense had 20 blocks to stymie Clarkson on Friday night. The Golden Knights took an early lead when Manon le Scodan scored on the power play four minutes into the game. But the Engineers held off more pressure from Clarkson and later in the first Michaela Littlewood evened the score 1-1. Early in the second, Naomi Forand’s shot was stopped but Mia Montanari put back the rebound to give RPI a 2-1 lead. The Engineers killed a number of penalties, keeping Clarkson off the board. As time wound down, they pulled the goalie and RPI immediately responded as Georgia Bailey scored on the empty-net to secure a 3-1 win for Rensselaer.
(9) Clarkson at Union
Clarkson’s offense returned on Saturday as Kate Manness and Jessie Pellerin scored in the first to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead. Manon le Scodan added a goal in the second to extend the lead to 3-0. Clarkson outshot Union 35-9 over the second and third period, but they couldn’t seem to put the Garnet Chargers away. Karianne Engelbert continued her hot start, getting Union on the board with what probably wasn’t even a shot, but it ended up in the back of the net to make it 3-1 early in the second. The teams traded goals a few minutes later as Pellerin made it 4-1 before Ella Skotty responded quickly to make it 4-2. Janelle Evens secured the win with a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute to secure the 6-2 bounceback win.
Dartmouth at (11) Yale
The teams skated to a scoreless time after the first period. But Yale found their scoring touch early in the second as Evelyn Doyle scored on a wrister from the slot less than two minutes into the frame and Cami Bell added a power play goal a few minutes later, redirecting a shot from distance by Molly Boyle. Yale outshot Dartmouth 16-4 in the second and then held Dartmouth to just two shots in the third. But the Big Green managed to bury one of those shots, as Sophia Shard found the back of the net on the power play. But the Bulldogs held on to control and closed out the 2-1 win.
Harvard at (11) Yale
The Crimson outshot the Bulldogs 20-11 over the first two frames before Yale really fought back in the third, putting 19 shots on frame. After a scoreless first, Emily Hamann scored six minutes into the second to put Harvard up 1-0. Morgan McGathey doubled the lead midway through the third and Carla McSweeney added an empty-netter to secure the 3-0 win. Isabelle Whynot earned the 30-save shutout for the Crimson
(15) Boston College vs. (13) Connecticut (home and home)
It felt like momentum was all on BC’s side on Thursday, but they could not seem to solve the Connecticut defense. Despite seeming to control the flow of play, the Huskies scored twice in the final four minutes to take a 2-0 lead that seemed to deflate the Eagles and keep them from ever getting back into the game. Livvy Dewar and Ellie Markakis scored two minutes apart, which seemed to not only spark on UConn, but take all the wind from Boston College. The Eagles managed just five shots in the middle frame while Dewar added a goal to make it 3-0 at the second intermission. Caileigh Tiller’s team-leading seventh goal of the year made it 4-0 in the third. Ava Thomas ruined the shutout to get Boston College on the board but UConn took the 4-1 win.