With a season-high crowd in attendance, the Yale women’s hockey team knocked off Colgate 2–0 in Saturday’s “White Out for Mandi,” the third annual fundraiser in memory of Mandi Schwartz ’10.

A day after falling to No. 4 Cornell, 5–0, the Elis put together a complete performance in honor of their former teammate, who died in 2011 after a 27-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

“It meant so much to us to get the win at the ‘White Out’ — for Mandi, our fans, alumni, each other and to keep our playoff dreams alive,” team captain Alyssa Zupon ’13 said.

The Bulldogs (4–16–1, 3–10–1 ECAC) scored in the first period at the 17:25 mark when forward Jamie Haddad ’16 was able to take advantage of a power-play opportunity by knocking the puck past Colgate goaltender Ashlynne Rando. With the goal, Haddad tallied her seventh goal of the season and broke a tie with fellow freshman forward Janelle Ferrara ’16 for the team lead in goals. Ferrara still leads the team in points.

After a scoreless second period, defender Jamie Gray ’13 took a long slap shot, which was deflected into the goal by Zupon with two minutes remaining in the third period.

“We as defensemen did a great job yesterday of getting our shots through and on net,” defender Kate Martini ’16 said.

Yale picked up a stellar performance from goaltender Jaimie Leonoff ’15, who recorded 31 saves en route to her first shutout since the team’s Oct. 26 showdown against Colgate (7–15–3, 2–9–3).

“Everyone did their job in front of the net and really minimized Colgate’s opportunities,” Leonoff said.

The Elis were able to match Colgate shot for shot, and both teams finished with 31 shots on goal. It was just the second time this season that the squad had as many shots as its opponent.

“Our forecheck and power play were great in helping us generate momentum,” defender Tara Tomimoto ’14 said. “We were also moving the puck quickly, which helped us generate shots.”

Additionally, Colgate’s physical style did it no favors, giving the Bulldogs five power plays, one of which the Elis converted into a goal.

Friday’s action against No. 4 Cornell did not go as well as Saturday’s game. The Big Red scored early and often with three first-period goals and finished with a 5–0 victory. Leonoff had 36 saves, but the story was again the shot differential: The Elis were outshot 41–13.

Tomimoto and Martini both agreed that the team moved the puck much more quickly against Colgate than they did in the previous day’s game.

“It was something we struggled with a bit on Friday, and it made a huge difference in our ability to generate offense,” Martini said.

With the win, the Bulldogs vaulted into a tie for the eighth and final ECAC playoff spot with Colgate. The Elis hold the tiebreaker over the Raiders thanks to their two head-to-head wins.

“If we come out and battle for 60 minutes … we can beat any team in the ECAC,” Martini said.

Yale has two road games against Princeton and Quinnipiac this week.

GRANT BRONSDON