Vermont at (1) Northeastern
The Catamounts earned their first-ever win over a #1 team when they upset Northeastern on Friday. Vermont had a season-high 38 blocks, led by Sarah Levesque with eight. Kristina Shanahan scored 12 minutes into the game. Theresa Schafzahl blocked a shot on defense and then she, Shanahan and Alyssa Holmes broke out. Shanahan placed the puck just below the bar to beat Aerin Frankel and make it 1-0. In the second, Maddie Mills took a shot from distance and Maureen Murphy was able to redirect it into the net to tie the game 1-1. In the third, the Catamounts were finally able to capitalize on a power play – they had five in the game – when Bella Parento wristed in a shot to make it 2-1. Northeastern called timeout and looked to pull Frankel with a few minutes left on the clock, but the Huskies struggled to clear the zone. They played the final 90 seconds with an extra attacker. Jessie MacPherson made a stunning save with just about 30 seconds to go when she moved across the width of the goal to snag what had been a wide-open shot at the doorstep for Chloe Aurard.
(2) Minnesota at (3) Ohio State
Buckeye goalie Amanda Thiele made a career-high 36 saves to help lead her team to a 2-1 overtime win on Friday. After a scoreless first frame, Taylor Heise scored for Minnesota at just about the midway point of the game. Madison Bizal tied the game with a power play goal with about nine minutes left to play. In OT, Liz Schepers and Jenna Buglioni got an odd-player rush in on the Gopher net and Schepers beat Lauren Bench to give Ohio State the win. Sophie Jaques had two assists in the game. On Saturday, the Gophers used four second-period goals to power a 5-3 win. Paetyn Levis scored for Ohio State just three minutes into the game and the Buckeyes carried that 1-0 lead into the first intermission. But in the second, Heise scored twice and Maggie Nicholson and Madeline Wethington each lit the lamp to put Minnesota ahead 4-1. Jaques and Schepers helped spur a comeback in the third to make it a one-goal game, but Audrey Wethington added an empty-netter to secure the win and give Minnesota the 5-3 victory and weekend sweep.
(3) Wisconsin at St. Cloud State
Emma Polusny made 54 saves on Friday, stymying one of the best offenses in the country to earn her team a hard-fought tie. It was the first point SCSU has won off the Badgers since 2015. Olivia Cvar scored 26 seconds into the game to put the Huskies up 1-0. That tally held for another 50 minutes before Makenna Webster scored on the power play to tie the game for the Badgers. Nicole LaMantia’s slapshot won an extra conference point in the shootout. SCSU made 22 blocks in the game. In the second game, Wisconsin answered with a first-shift goal of their own as Makenna Webster tallied her 50th career point. She would go on to register a hat trick, scoring again in the second and third. Brette Pettet also scored in the second as Wisconsin took a 4-0 win.
Minnesota State at (5) Minnesota Duluth
Gabbie Hughes had three assists and Anna Klein added two helpers to lead the Bulldogs to a 4-2 win on Friday. Taylor Anderson scored in the opening few minutes to put Duluth up 1-0. Mankato responded with a goal from Kennedy Bobyck. Elizabeth Giguere scored on the power play to put UMd up 2-1 and Clara Van Wieren extended the lead to 3-1 with just 0.02 seconds to go before the end of the first. Brittyn Fleming cut the lead down to one in the second. But Taylor Stewart’s third-period goal secured the win for the Bulldogs. On Saturday, Giguere scored twice in less than a minute midway through the first to put UMD up 2-0. But Minnesota State responded with two quick goals of their own in the second. Alexis Paddington and Taylor Wemple scored exactly one minute apart to tie the game at 2. Hughes and Van Wieren scored early in the second to make it a 4-2 game. Charlotte Avervik brought it to 4-3, but Mankato couldn’t complete the comeback and Klein’s empty-netter ensured the 5-3 win and weekend sweep.
(10) Clarkson at (6) Harvard
The Crimson had not beaten Clarkson since 2013 and hadn’t defeated them at home since 2011, but they ended the 14-game winless streak on Friday with a definitive 6-2 win. Harvard had a 2-0 lead before four minutes had elapsed thanks to goals from Becca Gilmore and Kristi Della Rovere. Florence Lessard made it 2-1 for Clarkson, but the Crimson quickly extended the lead as Anne Bloomer scored twice before the end of the first to make it 4-1 Harvard. Dominique Petrie scored in the third to make it 5-1 before Kristina Schuler added another for Clarkson. Brooke Jovanovich scored on the power play to complete the game for Harvard.
(9) Colgate at (7) Quinnipiac
There two closely-matched teams played a back and forth contest on Friday that needed overtime to decide a winner. Dara Grieg scored her team-leading 16th goal in the opening minutes to put Colgate up 1-0. Quinnipiac responded with a pair of goals from Nina Steingauf and Kendall Cooper to make it 2-1 at the end of the opening period. In the second, Neena Brick tied it up for Colgate. Midway through the third, Kaitlyn O’Donohoe put the Raiders ahead again, but it was extremely short-lived, as Jess Schryver lit the lamp 13 seconds later. It took just 38 seconds of extra play for Allyson Simpson to win it for Colgate, earning a 4-3 victory.
Cornell at (7) Quinnipiac
Olivia Mobley, Kendall Cooper and Kate Reilly all scored to give Quinnipiac a 3-0 win and season sweep over Cornell. It was the first time the Bobcats had ever shut out the Big Red in both regular season meetings.
Brown vs. (8) Yale
Brown knocked off Yale on Friday to earn their fourth ECAC win this season, their most since 2016-17. Maya Mangiafico scored in the final minute of the first, crashing the net and taking a pass behind the net. The Bulldogs scored on the player advantage early in the second to tie the game on a goal from Vita Poniatovskaia. Freshman Cameron Sikich won a faceoff and wristed in a pretty shot for what would prove to be the game-winner. Shay Maloney’s power play goal in the third gave Brown their first multi-goal lead of the season. Madie Stockfish’s empty net goal iced the 4-1 win for the Bears. On Sunday, rookies Poniatovskaia and Anna Bargman each had a goal and an assist and five different Bulldogs scored to help Yale bounce back with a 5-1 win. Anna Gallagher was the goal-scorer for the Bears in the loss. Maya Kerfoot, Claire Dalton and Tess Dettling were the other goal-scorers for Yale.
(9) Colgate at Princeton
Princeton had a player advantage for the final three minutes of the game, but Colgate was able to hold off the Tigers and add an empty-net goal to get a 3-1 win on Saturday. Eleri MacKay scored exactly three minutes in and that goal held until the midway point of the game when Annie Kuehl tied the game. But Colgate didn’t let Princeton get any momentum and scored on the power play a short while later with a goal from Rosy Demers. Kalty Kaltounkova’s empty-net goal secured the 3-1 win.
(10) Clarkson at Dartmouth
Lotti Odnoga put Dartmouth on the board first with a power play goal six minutes into the game. Caitrin Lonergan tied it up shortly thereafter and the teams headed into the first intermission tied at 1. In the second, the Big Green took another lead as Gabby Billing lit the lamp. Anne Cherkowski responded just a few moments later to tie the teams once again at the horn. In the third, Clarkson pulled away thanks to goals from Brooke McQuigge and Gabrielle David to win 4-2.
