Mandl Makes 38 Saves

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A five-game winning streak came to an end for the Yale women's ice hockey team on Saturday at Harvard, as the Crimson utilized a 42-24 shot advantage to overcome a 38 save effort by Yale junior goalie Hanna Mandl for the win. The 4-1 final dropped the Bulldogs from sixth place to seventh place in the ECAC Hockey standings with four regular season games left.

Harvard (13-9-2, 10-6-2 ECAC Hockey) took the lead at 4:15 of the first. After forward Karly Heffernan walked out in front from behind the net, she tried to get off a shot but had the puck deflected away. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs it went right to defenseman Chelsea Ziadie, who fired in her first career goal.

Yale (10-14-1, 9-8-1 ECAC Hockey) tied the game late in the first on a breakaway, as a long pass from sophomore defenseman Mallory Souliotis found junior forward Phoebe Staenz behind the Harvard defense. Staenz skated in and put the puck past Harvard goalie Emerance Maschmeyer to tie the game 1-1 at 17:47.

The Crimson went ahead 3-1 in the second, outshooting Yale 16-5 in that frame. Just 11 seconds into a power play early in the period forward Nikki Friesen scored her first career goal, redirecting a shot by defenseman Abbey Frazer. That was Harvard's first power play goal since Jan. 8. A minute after that Harvard nearly scored again, but junior forward Krista Yip-Chuck dove to the ice behind Mandl to knock away a dangerous loose puck in the crease. Harvard eventually got its third goal at 9:45, as Heffernan knocked in the rebound of a shot by forward Miye D'Oench.

Yale's attempt at a comeback in the third was stymied by a cross-checking call on the Bulldogs that put them in penalty-killing mode five minutes into the period. Five saves by Mandl helped kill off that penalty, but when it ended Yale had less than 13 minutes to try to tie the game up. Yale's best chance to get back in the game came with 2:41 to play and Mandl pulled for an extra skater. Senior forward Hanna Åström chipped the puck towards the goal, where it eventually hit the post. The puck then bounced back, hit Maschmeyer and started sliding back towards the goal line -- but she managed to get her leg on it just before it crossed the line.

Less than a minute later, Heffernan put the game out of reach with an empty net goal, making the final 4-1.

The Yale loss, coupled with St. Lawrence's 1-1 overtime tie with Rensselaer Saturday, drops the Bulldogs out of a tie for sixth with the Saints in the ECAC Hockey standings. With 19 points, Yale is one point behind sixth-place St. Lawrence and two points ahead of eighth-place RPI.

Yale hosts No. 10 Colgate next Friday (7:00 p.m., Ivy League Digital Network).

Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity