The women’s ice hockey team burned cross-town rivals Quinnipiac on home ice Tuesday night, winning 6-0.

The Elis (8-11-3, 4-7-0 ECAC) surpassed the three-goal mark for only the fifth time this season.

Heading into the game, Sheila Zingler ’07 said, “We need to put the puck away.”

Yale did just that.

Forwards Nicole Symington ’05 and Natalie Babony ’06 tallied two goals each, with Jenna Spring ’07 and Suzanne McGoey ’06 rounding out scorers. The Elis posted 44 shots to Quinnipiac’s 21.

While noting a second period lapse, Spring said the Bulldogs “finished strong,” erupting with four goals in the third period.

Although the win was gratifying for the Bulldogs, who snapped a four-game skid, all eyes are focused on this weekend’s match-ups versus Colgate (15-10-2, 6-6-0) and Cornell (4-15-1, 1-11-0) on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Elis faced both teams Jan. 9-10, dropping a 3-0 decision to Colgate and shutting out Cornell by the same score. Since that weekend, the Bulldogs have been 4-4, dropping two one-goal games to nationally-ranked teams.

“Our team has matured, and we’re a lot more prepared this time around,” forward Lisa Jacque ’06 said.

Part of that increased preparation comes with the Bulldogs’ penalty kill, ranked second in the ECAC with 93 percent efficiency. Over their last three games, the Elis have killed their 17 straight power plays.

“We just work really hard when we’re out there,” Spring said. “It’s the one stat we take the most pride in.”

Pride will be a key intangible on the ice during power plays against Colgate, as Red Raiders forward Becky Irvine is ranked third in the ECAC for power-play goals.

The Bulldogs will also need “consistency around the net that we haven’t seen this year,” Spring said.

Jacque concurred.

“We outshot [Colgate] two to one last time … this time we need to be more focused and finish around the net,” Jacque said.

A challenge for the Elis will be Colgate’s netminder Rebecca Lahar, who on Monday picked up ECAC goalie-of-the-week honors for the fourth time this season. She currently sports a 2.10 goals against average and .942 save percentage.

“[Colgate has] been holding many good teams to one or two goals,” Kelsey Johnson ’07 said. “It will be important for us to capitalize on our opportunities — a high scoring game would be to our advantage.”

On the other hand, the Big Red will give the Bulldogs an opportunity to continue working on defensive coverage, Johnson said. “Hopefully we can shut them out again,” she said. Cornell, whose only ECAC victory came in early November against Clarkson, is reeling from a 6-0 shutout loss to Harvard Saturday.

The Bulldogs are confident heading into the final stretch. With seven games remaining in the regular season, the first four of which are at home, “a sweep of Colgate and Cornell is essential if our team wants to meet our preseason goals,” Johnson said, referring to the team’s goal to finish above .500.

“Everyone is really pumped for this weekend,” she said. “If we can take this energy … and win all the little battles on the ice, we should have a lot of success.”

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