Box Score Mock, Staenz Score for Yale
STORRS, Conn. - Something had to give Friday afternoon at UConn's Freitas Ice Forum in the semifinal round of the 11th annual Nutmeg Classic. The Yale women's ice hockey team brought the No. 4 scoring offense in the country into the game, as the Bulldogs were averaging 3.78 goals per game. But No. 4 Quinnipiac brought the No. 1 scoring defense, allowing just 0.46 goals per game. In the end, the Bobcats were able to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard for the first 43 minutes, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the process, and they hung on for a 5-2 win. Senior forward Stephanie Mock and sophomore forward Phoebe Staenz scored Yale's goals as part of a third-period comeback attempt that fell short.
This was the second game in a row against an unbeaten and ranked foe for Yale (4-5-1, 1-3-0 ECAC Hockey), which lost to No. 1 Boston College 4-0 Tuesday night. On Friday Yale matched the Bobcats' top-ranked defense for the first half of the first period, as -- despite a pair of power plays for Quinnipiac (12-0-2, 6-0-1 ECAC Hockey) -- neither team got a shot on goal for nine minutes. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Quinnipiac scored on its first shot, as forward Meghan Turner stickhandled her way through the Yale defense and sent one past senior goaltender Jaimie Leonoff. The puck hit off the post behind Leonoff and went in off a Yale skate for a 1-0 QU lead at 9:00.
Leonoff kept that lead from increasing two minutes later by denying forward Nicole Connery on a 2-on-1, and a minute after that she stopped a hard one-timer from defenseman Emma Greco from in between the circles.
After a shot by Connery hit the post, the Bulldogs got their first power play of the game with 6:18 remaining in the period. That led to Yale's first shot on goal, by freshman forward Courtney Pensavalle, but Quinnipiac goalie Chelsea Laden stopped that one -- and three more over the course of the rest of the period. The Bobcats held a 1-0 advantage heading into the first intermission.
A series of penalties on both teams gave Yale a 4-on-3 advantage early in the second. But Laden sticked aside a shot by sophomore forward Krista Yip-Chuck from low in the right circle, and that wound up being the Bulldogs' only shot on goal with the man advantage. A penalty on Yale brought the power play to a premature end, but the Bulldogs were able to deny Quinnipiac's ensuing power play thanks to a trio of saves by Leonoff.
With the teams back at even strength, Quinnipiac forward Emma Woods extended the Bobcats' lead to 2-0 by wristing one into the upper right corner of the net past Leonoff's glove at 8:20 of the second. Seven minutes later forward Morgan Fritz-Ward made it 3-0, rifling a shot into an open net after Leonoff's attempt to play the puck behind her net ended with an interception by Connery.
Yale got a power play with 3:23 left in the second -- but got caught for having too many men in the ice a minute in, evening things up. Leonoff turned aside a shot by defenseman Cydney Roesler in the waning moments of the period to kill off the resulting QU power play. That was her 16th save of the second.
A turnover in the Yale zone 90 seconds into the first put Leonoff to an immediate test, and she was able to deny a wrister by forward Taylar Cianfarano -- the Bobcats' leading scorer. The Bulldogs began battling back on a goal by Mock at 3:22, as she poked one home off assists by sophomore forward Gretchen Tarrant and sophomore forward Brittany Wheeler.
Quinnipiac got that goal back quickly, as forward Erica Uden Johansson -- a 2014 Swedish Olympian who lost to Staenz and Team Switzerland in the bronze medal game -- carried the puck into the Yale zone on a 2-on-1 and kept it for herself, wristing one past Leonoff at the 5:40 mark to make the score 4-1 Bobcats.
A penalty on the Bulldogs with 11:26 remaining temporarily limited Yale's ability to mount a comeback, but Staenz grabbed a feed in front of the net from junior forward Jamie Haddad right after the penalty ended (Yale's sixth successful kill of the game) and slid the puck past Laden to pull Yale within two with 9:18 to play.
Yale pulled Leonoff for an extra attacker with two and a half minutes left, but Laden denied a slap shot by junior defenseman Ali Austin with heavy traffic in front of the net. A pair of faceoff wins by the Bobcats in their own zone helped keep the Bulldogs at bay, and forward Nicole Kosta sent one into the empty net with 1:22 remaining to put the game out of reach. Laden finished with 16 saves, while Leonoff made 28.
Yale will play in the consolation game Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against the loser of Friday night's game between No. 5 Clarkson and UConn. Quinnipiac will play the winner of that game for the Nutmeg Classic championship Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity
