The eleventh ranked UConn women’s hockey team defeated the fifteen-ranked Tigers in a pair of contests in Storrs this past weekend. Connecticut took game one, 2-1, and game two, 3-0.
The Huskies have now won three consecutive games and hold a record of 4-2.
Meanwhile, the Courtney Kessel era as head coach started off 0-2 for the Princeton Tigers.
Connecticut senior forward, Kyla Josifovic scored three of the Huskies five goals over the weekend while playing strong defense to help hold Princeton to one goal.
Game 1: Connecticut 2, Princeton 1 – Friday, Oct. 17
The Huskies ended the work week by scoring a key goal in the third period, while playing stellar defense to fend off the Tigers.
Tied at 1-1 with a little over eight minutes left in regulation, the Huskies had a player advantage due to a Princeton penalty. This was the second penalty committed by the Tigers in a span of two minutes.
With just under eight minutes to play, forwards, senior Christina Welker and junior Livvy Dewar, set up Josifovic in position to launch the puck toward the net and score to break the tie.
The goal marked Josifovic’s second goal of the new season.
The first period saw no scoring despite both offensives being very active on their respective ends. There were a combined four shots in the first two minutes, with one by Dewar ricocheting off the pipe in the early goings.
From there, PU sophomore forward, Mackenzie Alexander had a good chance to score, but missed her shot, wide, three minutes into the contest.
After a stretch of six Princeton shots in two minutes, Connecticut was able to push the puck to their end of the ice and attempt their first shot in over three minutes. This was followed by the Tigers once again controlling the puck and raddling off two more shots before the first media timeout.
Following that, Princeton continued to attack. They reeled off four more shots in a 20 second span. Two of which were by freshman forward, Sawyer Fleming.
The rest of the period consisted of clean, back and forth hockey. Both teams headed to the intermission without committing a penalty. However, PU outshot UConn 17-8.
Despite losing the faceoff, UConn opened the second period on the attack. Forwards Julia Pellerin and Sadie Hotles each missed wide on early shot attempts. Moments later, graduate goaltender Tia Chan stopped Fleming’s chance at the net to keep Connecticut in front.
The first penalty of the game was called on Princeton junior forward Maggie Johnson for holding.
UConn couldn’t convert on the power play but kept the puck in the offensive zone. Just over seven minutes into the period, Huskies’ sophomore forward Claire Murdoch maneuvered around traffic in front of the net to open the scoring, 1-0.
In the process, Murdoch scored her first goal of the season. Pellerin and junior Maya Serdachny pick up assists.
For the remainder of the period, Chan continued to lock down the net.
Though the first five minutes of the third, both teams tallied four shots. Serdachny was responsible for two of UConn’s shots during that stretch.
Then, sophomore forward, Sadie Hotles took a trip to the penalty box after being guilty of tripping.
This proved to be the spark the Tigers needed. Less than a minute into the power play, Alexander evened the ledger by netting a slapshot goal with ten minutes to play. It marked her first score of the season.
Moments after, freshman defensemen Megan Healy was removed from the game for two minutes for holding.
With time ticking away, UConn Head Coach Chris MacKenzie pulled Chan momentarily to give the Huskies a two-skater advantage. Princeton junior goaltender Uma Corneia knocked away two consecutive shots to keep the Tigers in it.
Moments later, Healy was called for holding, giving UConn a 5-on-3 advantage and prompting MacKenzie to put Chan back in net.
The Huskies fired off four shots in 30 seconds before Healy reentered the game, but it didn’t matter. With six players crowded in front of the net, Josifovic found space to bury the eventual game-winning goal.
For the final minutes of the game, Connecticut limited Princeton’s shot opportunities to hold onto the 2-1 victory.
The Tigers outshot the Huskies 49-27, with Chan saving 48 shots.
Game 2: Connecticut 3, Princeton 0 – Saturday, Oct. 18
Despite there being no scoring in the first period, the script was flipped for game two of the weekend.
Josifovic scored two third period goals to put the game out of reach for Princeton. Her score with eight minutes left in regulation extended the Huskies’ lead to three.
UConn started off the game by shooting three shots to Princeton’s one in the first few minutes. Senior forward Megan Woodworth attempted two early shots, with one barely missing.
A little over five minutes into the game, Serdachny was called for interference, but the UConn defense held strong and blocked two of Princeton’s four shots.
The next penalty came nearly 10 minutes later against Princeton senior forward Emmerson O’Leary, also for interference. During the power play, Pellerin fired four shots on goal.
UConn closed the first period with 11 shots to Princeton’s four.
The Tigers came out of the intermission energized, despite being down a player from a late first-period penalty.
Alexander fired two shots in quick succession, leading to UConn junior defenseman Julia Stephen being called for tripping two minutes into the period. That put Chan to work, as several Tigers combined for six shot attempts during the power play.
Both teams spent the next 15 minutes exchanging penalties and stints of bunched together shots on each end resulting in no score until Pellerin netted the puck with nine seconds left in the period, 1-0.
In the third, Fleming committed an early hooking penalty to be sent to the box. The Huskies kept the puck in their possession for the duration of the powerplay, and Corniea recorded two saves.
Moments after Princeton returned to full strength, Stephen fed the puck to Josifovic, who scored to double the Huskies lead and make the score 2-0 with just over 13 minutes remaining.
Despite Princeton controlling the puck over the next five minutes, they still weren’t able to break though. Sophomore forward Angelina DiGirolamo and senior forward Issy Wunder each had prime opportunities to score but couldn’t convert.
UConn on the other hand, was able to move the puck down to their end and methodically set up a play where Josifovic scored following a pass from Woodworth to break the game open with eight minutes left in the game.
With five minutes left, the Tigers elected to go with an empty net, and a plethora of quick shots was not enough to result in a Princeton score.
Ultimately, Connecticut ran down the clock and won the game 3-0.
Chan put on another great showing, totaling 33 saves. As a team, the Huskies were outshot 33-26.
Next, UConn will look to head to Erie, Penn. to battle fifteenth ranked Mercyhurst. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.