WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY: No. 7 Bulldogs dominate the Crimson and the Big Green
Yale’s women’s ice hockey team competed in two consecutive home games this past weekend, winning against the Harvard Crimson and Dartmouth Big Green.
Yale Athletics
This weekend, the No. 7 Yale women’s ice hockey team (3–1–0, 3–1–0 ECAC) faced the Harvard Crimson (0–5–0, 0–5–0 ECAC) and the Dartmouth Big Green (2–3–1, 1–3–1 ECAC) in their home territory.
The Bulldogs secured the win against both teams, dominating the Crimson 2–1 and the Big Green 8–0.
The Bulldogs faced the Crimson on Friday, Oct. 27 in their fourth game of the season. Although Crimson Gwyn Lapp scored a goal on the Elis, Sylvia Bojarski ’26 and Emma DeCorby ’25 helped the Bulldogs bark back and effectively clinch the win against their rivals, ending the game by a score of 2–1.
“The win against Harvard was especially exciting since we got to beat our rival,” forward Suzy Higuchi ’27 said. “I think getting a shutout win against Dartmouth was definitely big since it reflected how much we dominated them. For our future games I think we’re just trying to keep the momentum going and looking for the same success we had this weekend with other teams.”
The next day, the Dartmouth women’s ice hockey team visited the Bulldogs in the Whale and, after 60 minutes, the Big Green left dominated by the Elis in an eight-to-nothing defeat.
After these two games, the team is riding on a high as they are undefeated in the Ivy League. This season, outside of winning the Harvard game and the Dartmouth game, the Yalies also defeated the No. 15 Princeton Tigers (3–3–0, 1–3–0 ECAC), pushing them to the top ranking in the ECAC standings.
“My biggest takeaway from last season is to not take any victories for granted.” said captain Elle Hartje ’24. “Winning is hard, especially in the ECAC where every team is competitive and highly ranked. The games are a grind night in and night out, so every win we amass is just as substantial as the last. Personally, I hope to live up to the high standards of leadership that I learned from my previous two captains, Claire Dalton [’23] and Greta Skarzynski [‘23]. They were such amazing role models, and I want to lead this team to new heights just as they did!”
As the team heads into their future games, they are remaining positive and excited. Coming off last year as the ECAC Regular Season Champions, they are ready for this season.
The News spoke to the Yale women’s ice hockey team’s head coach, Mark Bolding, about his goals for the remainder of this season.
“Highlights for sure this past weekend was seeing our captain, senior Elle Hartje, surpass last year’s captain Claire Dalton to become the program’s all-time leader in assists,” said Bolding. “This is a massive accomplishment and we are very proud of Elle and know she will have an awesome senior year for us. As a team we are striving for more consistency with our passing and offensive attacks. We know we can play fast but connecting our lines and creating and converting on grade A scoring chances are a priority.”
The Bulldogs face the No. 10 Cornell Big Red (6–0–1, 2–0–0 ECAC) and the No. 3 Colgate Raiders (7–1–0, 2–0–0 ECAC) this weekend in Ithaca, New York and Hamilton, New York respectively.