After a month break, UConn women’s hockey got back on the ice to face off with the University of Vermont in Burlington on Friday. Coming into the night, UConn was ranked 10th overall in uscho.com’s rankings. The first matchup of the two-game series went squarely in UConn’s favor, as the Huskies won 5-1, while Saturday’s contest went to the Catamounts by a score of 2-6.
UConn got off to a hot start Friday night, needing only six minutes to put points on the board thanks to an unassisted goal from forward Danielle Fox. Four minutes later forward Viki Harkness scored, assisted by forward Jada Habisch, putting the Huskies up 2-0.
Seven minutes into the second period, Habisch had a goal of her own, with an assist from defensewoman Ava Rinker. On the power play with less than two seconds remaining in the period, Vermont forward Theresa Schafzahl scored, assisted by defensewoman Maude Poulin-Labelle and forward Corinne McCool.
The 3-1 score lasted more than halfway into the third period, but forward Morgan Wabick padded the lead with two goals, the first of which was assisted by forward Natalie Snodgrass and the second by Rinker and forward Summer-Rae Dobson.
While the Catamounts did outshoot the Huskies 35-30, goaltending was the difference in this one. UConn goaltender Megan Warrener had over 97% goals saved, while Vermont’s Sydney Correa posted only 83%.
On Saturday, UConn looked to continue their momentum and pick up their 10th Hockey East victory on the season.
The first period started out well for the Huskies, as they went up 1-0 off a Dobson goal on the power play, assisted by Morgan Wabick and her sister defensewoman Taylor Wabick. Later in the first, defensewoman Cam Morrissey would tie up the score for UVM, assisted by forward Lilly Holmes and defensewoman Ellice Murphy.
Reagan Miller’s second-period goal for UVM would give Vermont their first lead of the weekend, and they never gave it up. Four minutes later, assisted by Miller and forward Maddy Skelton, Poulin-Labelle scored to put the Catamounts up 3-1. With less than a minute remaining in the second, Morgan Wabick, assisted by Taylor Wabick, brought UConn back within one.
The game stayed at 3-2 well into the third period, but UVM broke it open halfway through. Natalie Mlynkova’s shorthanded goal assisted by Poulin-Labelle put UVM up 4-2, and then similarly to how Morgan Wabick did the night prior, Schafzahl netted two to finish the job for the Catamounts. Forward Kristina Shanahan had assists on both of the last two goals, with Alyssa Holmes also assisting the first and Mlynkova assisting the second.
With this 1-1 weekend, the Huskies now have a 9-4-2 record in Hockey East Conference play, and now sit at No. 11 in the rankings.
They will once again look for their 10th conference win this Friday back home at the Freitas Ice Forum, facing Boston College at 6 p.m.
