muscosportsphotos.com

After losing the first game in the best-of-three series against St. Lawrence  (15–15–7, 10–9–4 ECAC) , the Yale women’s hockey team (24–7–1, 17–5–1) bounced back to win two straight games to progress further into the playoffs.

For the first time in program history, Yale will host the ECAC semifinals. The Bulldogs, who entered the playoffs as the second seed, will look to build off their momentum next weekend against eighth-seeded Princeton (13–14–5, 9–10–3).

“It was intense. We knew it would be a battle,” head coach Mark Bolding said. “Great team effort up and down the ice, and lots of different players did simple things but good things, and that really made the difference.”

Special teams continued to impress as the Bulldogs got ahead in the first period on a power-play goal. Just 33 seconds after Abby Hustler was called for a tripping minor, Emma Seitz ’23 skated the puck in from the point to the high slot and shot it through traffic in front of the net.

The finalist for both ECAC Defenseman of the Year and ECAC Player of the Year notched her second of the day midway through the first. In almost the same play as her first goal, she roofed the puck past the screened Saints goaltender Lucy Morgan. Seitz leads all defenders in the ECAC in regular-season goals and points with nine and 19, respectively.

“[The high slot] is where I like to shoot from,” Seitz said. “For the team, it’s huge to get the lead. That was a big, pivotal point in the game for us.”

Elle Hartje ’24, ranking first on the team and second in the conference for points, made it a three-goal game. Taking a pass from Anna Bargman ’25, she walked into the crease to take a shot. Morgan bodied Hartje mid-dangle, tossing her through the air as she poked the puck in. After a video review for goaltender interference, the officials confirmed the goal.

Hartje’s goal was just the seventh shot on target for the Bulldogs. Despite the abismal .571 save percentage, Saints head coach Chris Wells did not pull Morgan for another netminder. The junior starting goalie has played in every game for St. Lawrence this season, with the other three goalies combining for about 120 minutes of playing time this year. 

Throughout the series against the Saints, the Bulldogs gradually gained more confidence. As they became more accustomed to postseason play, they got more comfortable handling and controlling the puck. The Elis managed to control most of Sunday’s game with a significant portion of time spent in the offensive zone. At times, Yale had such control over the puck that it appeared as if it was on the powerplay.

“There’s no doubt our players were all nervous on day one, and it showed with our puck handling. Even our top kids were sort of making some mistakes handling the puck, which is uncharacteristic. We did have some good poise over the last two games,” Bolding said about the St. Lawrence series. 

The Saints made their mark on the scoreboard at the end of the first frame off a fluke play. After a rush was deflected to the corner, a pass to the slot was deflected off the pad of Gianna Meloni ’22 and slipped into the net. After 20 minutes, the Elis were up 3–1 on the board and 15–14 in shots.

With a little more than three minutes to go in the second period, St. Lawrence tightened up the score as Saints forward Nara Elia shot one past Meloni, making it 3–2 going into the third period.

The score remained 3–2 late into the third screen of play. With hopes of evening the score and forcing overtime, St. Lawrence pulled its goalie with a little over two minutes to go in the game. Yale fended off St. Lawrence’s desperate attempts to win the game 3–2.

“We’ve definitely grown very close. We’re definitely a team and we play like a team and that’s why we won this series and that’s how we’re going to keep winning,” Rebecca Foggia ’23 said.

Yale will host Princeton in the ECAC semifinal on Friday, March 4 at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.