The women’s ice hockey team (3-0-1) had a big weekend, as the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 19-0 en route to wins over Union (0-1-0) Saturday and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (0-1-0) Sunday.
Thirteen different players each recorded one or more points during the weekend.
Nicole Symington ’05, who had a hat trick Sunday, and Erin Duggan ’05 each recorded four goals on the weekend, while five players contributed two apiece.
“We did the simple things right that win you hockey games,” Duggan said. “Each line was communicating, and with almost 50 shots in each game, it just shows how we had everything going to their net.”
In Sunday’s game — which the Elis won 8-0 — it was Wallis Finger ’04 who began the scoring spree at 8:26. Five minutes later, Symington scored the first of her three goals, flipping the puck past Engineer goalie Julie Vallarelli during a line change and putting the Bulldogs up 2-0.
At 18:59, Karin Tilly ’03 forced RPI to commit a turnover. She flicked a quick pass up the ice to Finger, who relayed the puck to Duggan. Duggan redirected Finger’s pass into the goal, giving the Elis a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
Halfway through the second period, that line would score once again after Duggan knocked in the rebound of a shot by Kristin Kattleman ’04. Symington then put in her own rebound several minutes later, and the Elis were up 5-0.
After a smooth transition play near the end of the second period, Keely MacMillan ’05 managed to split two defenders and put the puck over Vallarelli’s shoulder.
“Keely’s goal was one of the prettiest I’ve seen all year,” said teammate Deanna McDevitt ’03, who also contributed to the weekend’s scoring effort with two goals and two assists.
Yale’s lead was extended to 7-0 with just over 10 seconds remaining in the period, when Kattleman hit a streaking Sara Wood ’02, who tucked the puck past the goalie on a breakaway.
“Our transition improved greatly this weekend, which created many scoring opportunities, even providing a couple of breakaways,” Duggan said.
Despite the comfortable lead, the Bulldogs were not finished, and Symington scored on a rebound off an Anna Jepson ’05 shot to cement her hat trick and the 8-0 victory. Goalie Nicolette Franck ’04 tallied 15 saves on the game.
“I think we played more together as a team in the second game than in the first, even though the scores would indicate it might be the other way around,” head coach John Marchetti said. “RPI was a better team [than Union], but they ran into a hockey team that’s been practicing for about a month and a team that’s already played a few games — that does make a difference.”
Union was similarly inexperienced, and the Bulldogs took advantage of their opportunities in that game as well, winning 11-0.
“I think we started moving the puck really well as a team this weekend, and we stayed intense for the whole game and didn’t let down,” Symington said. “Everybody contributed which was very nice.”
McDevitt led off scoring in that game at 8:04, and the Bulldogs never looked back. Although they only led 2-0 after the first period, thanks to an unassisted Kattleman goal at 17:56, the Bulldogs scored a quick two goals at the start of the second period. First, Tara O’Donnell ’04 put the puck past Dutchmen goalie Victoria Elkins. Seconds later, Tilly took advantage of a blue line turnover and passed to Duggan, who scored on a wrist shot high to the glove side.
After Yale killed off two penalties, Symington put the puck past Elkins off an assist from Wood, and the Elis led 5-0.
The third period was disastrous for Elkins and the Dutchmen, who gave up five goals in the first 4:13. McDevitt struck first, followed by a Duggan slap shot past Elkins. Next, Wood deflected a shot from McDevitt into the goal, extending the Bulldogs’ lead to 8-0 with only 3:04 gone by in the third. Finger and Macmillan each scored within the next minute, and Elkins was pulled from the game.
“I’m most pleased at the way we moved the puck and the number of scoring chances we created,” Marchetti said. “Both goalies on the opposing teams played well, coming up with saves on some of our better chances, but we scored some crazy goals that you wouldn’t think would go in.”
O’Donnell scored the 11th and final goal for Yale, unassisted at 16:37. Captain Katie Hirte ’02 recorded 10 saves in goal.
With this weekend’s successes, the Bulldogs have already surpassed last season’s win total. But Wood remarked that the team should not become complacent.
“We knew looking at the schedule that we could be successful early on, but that’s all behind us now,” she said. “We need to refocus this week, because it’s our league record that is going to determine how far we go this season.”
The Bulldogs will face Princeton in their first league contest 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Ingalls Rink.
“Princeton will really give us an early indication of where we think we are with our team,” Marchetti said, adding that the full team will finally be together this week as several women return from fall sports.