The Yale women’s hockey team snagged its first point of the season with a 0–0 tie against No. 7 Quinnipiac on Saturday.
The unranked Bulldogs (0–5–1, 0–3–1 ECAC) rode on the back of goaltender Jaimie Leonoff ’15, who made a season-high 44 saves and secured her first shutout of the year.
“[Leonoff] is a huge part of why we’re in so many of the games,” forward Jamie Haddad ’16 said. “As skaters, we’re still making a lot of mistakes, and she’s really been the person that’s kept us in the game.”
The tie came after a tight 3–2 loss at home to Princeton (4–2–0, 4–2–0) the day before. The Bulldogs outshot the Tigers 36–32 and were even with them at 2–2 late in the game, but a Tiger forward scored with three minutes remaining to put the game away.
Though neither team could score in Yale’s home game against Quinnipiac (8–1–3, 3–1–2), the game was still one-sided in shots. The Bobcats outshot the Elis 44–27, and Yale produced just five shots in the third period.
In the five-minute overtime, however, Yale managed four shots while allowing Quinnipiac just one.
The Bulldogs struggled to get anything past Bobcat goalie Chelsea Laden, whose 0.94 goals against average is currently best in the country.
“We were generating some great chances offensively, but at the end of the day we have to score, which is something we are working on this week in practice,” forward and captain Tara Tomimoto ’14 said in an email to the News.
Yale came extremely close to taking a lead in the first period, when forward Hanna Aström ’16 backhanded a shot past Laden’s glove but off the post.
On the other end of the ice, Leonoff increased her save total to 215, for a 0.919 save percentage. Her 35.8 saves per game average this year is the second highest in the ECAC.
Leonoff credited an improving defense for her success in net this season.
“The defense was very solid,” Leonoff said. “It’s definitely getting better with every weekend, and I expect good things if we continue on this path.”
On Friday, the Elis faced off against the Tigers, who were riding momentum after a 6–2 victory over Colgate in which they scored all six goals in the third period.
Yale outshot Princeton 11–8 in the first frame of the game, but neither team could score until midway through the second period. The Tigers scored to take a 1–0 lead, but committed a tripping penalty just seconds later, allowing Tomimoto to tie the game with a power-play goal. Haddad and defenseman Taylor Marchin ’17 assisted on the goal.
Eighteen minutes of scoreless play followed, despite a power play for both teams during that span.
Princeton took another lead five minutes into the final period, but Yale was again able to respond quickly. Forward Krista Yip-Chuck ’17 put in the equalizer shortly after Princeton’s goal to make the score 2–2 midway through the third period.
Just a minute later, the Tigers scored to take their third one-goal lead of the game. Yale was able to put seven shots on target after the goal, but could not finish in the end.
Despite the loss, Haddad was happy with the offense, which put a season-high 36 shots on net in the game.
“We definitely controlled the puck way more than Princeton when we were in the offensive zone,” Haddad said. “We had them running around and got a bunch of shots off, but their goalie played really well, and we didn’t exactly take the best shots that we could have.”
Next weekend, the Bulldogs head to New York to play Rensselaer on Friday and Union on Saturday.