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With just five more games to play in the regular season, the No. 9 Yale women’s hockey team (18–5–1, 12–4–1 ECAC) returned to campus after sweeping Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (9–18–0, 5–12–0) and Union (4–24–1, 1–16–0).

After the wins this weekend, the Bulldogs both tied and surpassed the program record for number of wins in a season. The team hit another milestone this weekend, with head coach Mark Bolding securing his 300th collegiate win against RPI.

“Coach Bolding does a great job of motivating and encouraging us and he’s brought in a new mindset to our program. The culture of our team has changed a lot over the last two years since he has been here and that’s played a huge part in our success as a team,” Tess Dettling ’22 said.

Pia Dukaric ’25 earned her fourth shutout of the season in the 3–0 win against RPI. After a scoreless first period, Elle Hartje ’24 scored a power-play goal with assists from Claire Dalton ’23 and Charlotte Welch ’23 less than four minutes into the second period. Dalton is now tied for second place for Yale career assists with 61.

Going into the third period, the score was 1–0, and the Bulldogs led in shots 26–8. With just over three minutes left in the game, Yale’s Tijana Miskovic ’25 was sent to the penalty box for checking. After a Yale timeout with 30 seconds left in the penalty-kill, RPI pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage. 

Despite RPI ramping up the intensity, Dettling knocked in an empty-net goal just eight seconds later with less than two minutes remaining in the game. After the center-ice faceoff, RPI pulled their goalie once more allowing Rebecca Foggia ’22 to score the second empty-net goal of the night.

“We had a real solid performance from everyone up and down the lineup,” Bolding told Yale Athletics. “The power-play goal by Hartje gave us the jump we needed. Terrific energy on our [penalty kill] and timely saves by Dukaric sealed this road win.”

Dettling was busy this weekend. In addition to her goal against RPI, she earned her first career hat trick along with two assists in the 7–0 victory against Union.

In the first 11 minutes against Union, Dettling skated the puck into the offensive zone on a power play. Spinning around at the face-off dot towards the boards she spotted defender Olivia Muhn ’25 at the blue line. Muhn scored five-hole for her first career goal to start the Bulldogs’ scoring midway into the first. Around six minutes later, Dettling hammered one home to make it 2–0 after the first 20 minutes. 

Welch scored top-shelf glove-side on a short-handed breakaway less than eight minutes into the second period after Dalton was sent to the box for holding. Anna Bargman ’25 scored next with a shot that went bar down. 

On a power play, Dettling scored her second goal of the game off of a deflection from Muhn’s shot. With less than a minute to go in the second period, Hartje fired one off the post and Dettling was there to capitalize on the rebound and picked up her third goal of the night. 

“The success we are having as a team this year has been pretty incredible,” Dettling said. “We have a really good team with a lot of depth along with goaltending that has really stepped up for us this year.”

Yale led 6–0 going into the third period.

With two shorthanded and two powerplay goals after 40 minutes of play, the Bulldogs were on fire with their special teams. 

During the second intermission, Dutchwomen forward Carmen Merlo said the focus was on “not [giving] up and keep[ing] pressure [on] their offensive zone and work[ing] on our special teams,” as well as “killing penalties and getting good offensive chances on the power play.”

Welch secured her second goal of the game from a shot in the lower slot on the power-play mid-way through the third period making the final score against Union 7–0. 

Gianna Meloni ’22 posted her fifth shutout this season after stopping Union’s 26 shots on net. She is now tied with Jackee Snikeris ’11 for the most shutouts in one season in Yale women’s hockey history. Meloni is currently ranked third for career shutouts with 10.

“Looking ahead to Tuesday I think that it’s important that we have a short term memory and not to underestimate a good Union team that will be hungry to get three points and some redemption after our 7–0 win,” Dettling said.

The Yale women’s hockey team is scheduled to face off against Union again on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m., this time at home. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Yale will allow vaccinated fans to attend games indoors starting Feb. 11. As of Saturday, Feb. 5, Yale students are able to attend sporting events if they have completed their arrival quarantine. Ingalls Rink will operate at 75 percent capacity.