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The Yale women’s ice hockey team notched one win and one loss against St. Lawrence and Clarkson this past weekend.

The Bulldogs (14–11–0, 11–7–0 ECAC) defeated both teams in their last meetings in an impressive weekend of wins in January. Now with two games on the road, the Elis shut out the Saints (11–12–6, 6–8–4) 3–0, but fell 2–0 to the Golden Knights (20–4–6, 11–3–4). The Saints came into Friday’s matchup off of a winless weekend. Meanwhile, Clarkson came in on a four-game unbeaten streak. Goaltender Gianna Meloni ’21 shone throughout the weekend, stopping a cumulative 54 shots while letting just two slip by her.

“We had a very good weekend against St. Lawrence and Clarkson [two weekends ago], so hopefully we’ll have positive momentum going into those games,” defender Emma Seitz ’22 said after the Bulldogs lost to Quinnipiac. “As long as we stick together as a team, we should be looking good for that weekend.”

Although Yale won its last matchup against the Saints, the Elis put on a dominant performance which saw them walk away with a 3–0 victory. The game remained scoreless for much of the first period, but Seitz slipped a shot by the St. Lawrence goaltender with just 15 seconds remaining. The game would remain in a standstill until the third period, wherein forwards Tess Dettling ’21 and Lucy Burton ’21 scored one goal each within a thirty-second span late in the third period. The Saints never got one back, giving Yale a final scoreline of 3–0.

Meloni stopped a whopping 28 shots en route to notching her sixth career shutout for the Elis. Yale was outshot 28–19, but made their shots count and pulled away with a much-needed victory.

“It was a great game and a nice team win for us,” head coach Mark Bolding said. “We really needed that.”

Things did not go as well in Potsdam, as the Bulldogs fell 2–0 against a dominant Clarkson. Despite outshooting the Golden Knights 32–26, the Clarkson netminder prevented Yale from ever getting on the board. The game was even until Clarkson’s Elizabeth Giguère scored on an unassisted goal with just ten seconds remaining in the first. The Golden Knights added one more midway through the second, delivering Yale another loss and evening their head-to-head record this year. Despite the loss, Yale’s defense played very well against a team that has outscored its opponents 90–44 this year.

The Bulldogs have just four games remaining in their season, all of which are in-conference. At this point in the season, every point matters as Yale looks to gain home-ice advantage in the ECAC playoffs. They are currently in fifth place, just two points ahead of No. 5 Quinnipiac and three points behind No. 3 Harvard.

“Our penalty kill has been working well,” Kirsten Nergaard ’20 said. “For next weekend, we need to deal with two very strong teams that beat us on their home ice. We’re going to need to play with a lot of speed and energy to try and match their pace.”

The team will take on Colgate on Friday at 6 p.m. and Cornell on Saturday at 3 p.m., both at Ingalls.

Akshar Agarwal | akshar.agarwal@yale.edu

 Alessa Kim-Panero | alessa.kim-panero@yale.edu

 

AKSHAR AGARWAL
ALESSA KIM-PANERO