Beyond 400
Last week, I neglected to make mention of Mike Sisti leading No. 7 Mercyhurst to the program’s 400th win on Nov. 25 versus Colgate. I’d blame that lapse on my part on too much turkey, but those who have followed our picks contest know that it doesn’t take any holiday rituals for me to mess things up. The Lakers’ achievement is already old news, given they blew past the milestone the next day, and are up to 403 wins, all under Sisti in the program’s 16 seasons. My apologies and a sincere congratulations to him and his charges on a great accomplishment.
Mercyhurst started the current week with a key road tie at Cornell, 1-1. Hannah Bale buried the rebound of a Taylor Accursi shot to forge the deadlock midway through the contest after Morgan Richardson had given the Big Red an early advantage. Mercyhurst’s Amanda Makela and Cornell’s Paula Voorheis prevented additional offense with 22 and 27 saves, respectively.
The Lakers continued to build that win total with a sweep of Lindenwood, 6-2 and 5-2. Jenna Dingeldein and Megan Whiddon struck twice in the series opener, and Bale did the same in game two.
A pair of Ivies recover
No. 10 Harvard and Cornell were the ECAC coaches’ picks to finish atop the league, but for a time, it appeared that they hadn’t received the memo. Both rebounded with strong final weeks in their 2014 schedules.
The Crimson displayed the defense we had expected in rattling off three home wins, starting with a 4-1 triumph over Dartmouth. Miye D’Oench opened the scoring and assisted on Hillary Crowe’s game-winner in the second period, and Emerance Maschmeyer turned aside 27 shots. Brianna Laing took her turn in net and produced a 27-save shutout of Princeton, 3-0, as eight skaters contributed a point. Harvard ruined No. 4 Quinnipiac’s hopes of going into its break undefeated with a 2-1 Crimson victory. Haley Mullins broke a tie in the third period, after Lindsey Fry’s goal late in the opening period had erased the Bobcats’ lead provided by Lindsey West.
Cornell followed the tie versus Mercyhurst with three wins. Brianne Jenner and Jillian Saulnier combined for 19 points on the week, including three each in a 6-2 defeat of Syracuse, when Hannah Bunton netted a pair of goals. The Big Red followed that up with a return to ECAC action and a successful North Country trip. Jess Brown boasted a hat trick, and she, Jenner, and Saulnier all had four points as Cornell lit up No. 6 Clarkson, 8-3. Saulnier scored the deciding goal with just over six minutes remaining at St. Lawrence to help Cornell overcome the Saints, 4-2.
A lot of rubber
Union senior Shanae Lundberg logged a career-high 59 saves in a 1-0 win over Northeastern, the most stops by a goaltender in a shutout in the NCAA era. Kathryn Tomaselli’s goal in the latter stages of the opening frame proved decisive.
The Dutchwomen were back in action earning an ECAC split on the weekend. They fell to Yale by a 4-2 margin, with four different Bulldogs scoring and Phoebe Staenz providing two helpers. Janelle Ferrara scored what proved to be the winning goal 10 seconds into a penalty kill. Defenseman Alex Tancrell-Fontaine had a goal and an assist to key Union to a 3-2 edging of Brown.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
Haley Skarupa’s two goals topped 13 Eagles on the score sheet in No. 1 Boston College’s 8-1 victory at Maine. The Black Bears tallied first, but it was all BC thereafter.
No. 2 Minnesota had things all its way in peppering St. Cloud State, 12-0 and 7-0. Hannah Brandt’s nine points highlighted a weekend where 15 of 16 skaters who dressed earned a point or more, and Gophers Paige Haley, Nina Rodgers, and Sydney Baldwin scored their first career goals.
Goals were hard to come by, but No. 3 Wisconsin got enough of them to sweep visiting North Dakota, 2-1 in overtime and 2-0. On Friday, Sarah Nurse hit a top corner at 2:40 of the extra session to lift the Badgers to the win. Shannon Kaiser had tied the game for UND with three minutes to go in regulation. Goals by Kim Drake and Baylee Wellhausen supported the 21-save shutout of Ann-Renée Desbiens on Sunday.
Before falling at Harvard, Quinnipiac yielded more than two goals for the first time this season and settled for a 4-4 tie at Dartmouth. Eleni Tebano scored the tying goal for the Big Green with 3:23 remaining in the third period. Dartmouth’s other three goals came on the power play, including two by Kennedy Ottenbreit. Erica Udén Johansson had a pair of tallies for the Bobcats, and Shiann Darkangelo supplied three helpers.
No. 5 Boston University overpowered Vermont, 4-1. Sarah Lefort snapped in two of the goals on hard wrist shots off the rush.
Clarkson bounced back from its loss to Cornell by besting Colgate, 5-1. Cayley Mercer poured in her first hat trick for the Golden Knights, and Erin Ambrose had a goal and three points.
No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth had to settle for five of six league points at Ohio State. The Bulldogs got a late goal by Katerina Mrázová to earn a 2-2 tie before winning a shootout on Friday. Meghan Huertas scored the winning goal on a short-handed rush in a 4-1 victory on Saturday.
No. 9 Bemidji State swept Minnesota State, 7-4 and 2-0. The two usually low-scoring teams got their offenses untracked on Friday. Katie Johnson and Hannah Davidson combined for three goals and three assists, but it wasn’t enough for the visiting Mavericks. BSU defenseman Ivana Bilic had a goal and three helpers, while Kaitlyn Tougas scored twice. Saturday’s contest went much more to form; Brittni Mowat made 26 saves, and Rachael Kelly and Tougas found the net.
Other action
Alysha Burriss completed her hat trick into an empty net in a 4-2 win for Syracuse over RIT. It was an eventful final minute, as Burriss’ coup de grâce was preceded by an empty-net goal by Heather Schwarz and an extra-attacker tally from the Tigers’ Marissa Maugeri.
Penn State and Robert Morris split a CHA series. The Nittany Lions drew first blood with a 5-0 shutout featuring 42 saves by Celine Whitlinger. Shannon Yoxheimer scored twice and Hannah Hoenshell had three points. The Colonials scored the final three goals in a come-from-behind 4-2 victory on Saturday. Mackenzie Johnston netted the winner with under five minutes to play.
New Hampshire dumped Providence, 5-0. Vilma Vaattovaara was flawless on 30 shots, while Jonna Curtis scored twice and added an assist.
Princeton got a pair of goals from Jaimie McDonell and Audrey Potts to take home a 5-2 victory at Dartmouth.
St. Lawrence blanked Colgate, 5-0, with Carmen MacDonald and Brooke Wolejko combining on the shutout. Jacqueline Wand and Brooke Webster had a goal and an assist.
Rensselaer raced to a seven-goal lead against Brown and wound up with a 7-5 win. The Engineers’ line of Alexa Gruschow between Taylor Mahoney and Marisa Raspa combined for four goals and seven assists. RPI lost a 3-2 verdict to Yale on Saturday. Eight different Bulldogs had a point, and Jaimie Leonoff made 26 saves.
