Last week, the seventh-ranked Huskies women’s hockey team defeated New Hampshire on the road before falling in overtime at home.
The loss marks Connecticut’s first loss to the Wildcats in seven meetings.
On Friday, graduate student goaltender Tia Chan pitched a shutout to help the Huskies secure a 1-0 victory. The following day, junior forward Julia Cabral netted the game winner to overtime to hand UConn a 3-2 loss.
Connecticut now possesses a 19-7-2 overall record and a 12-5-1 conference record. New Hampshire is 13-12-3 overall and 7-9-2 in the Hockey East.
Game 1: Connecticut 1, New Hampshire 0 – Friday, Jan. 30
The only goal of Friday’s contest came midway through the second period. With the Huskies on a power play following a Wildcat penalty, senior forward Megan Woodworth scored on an assist from junior Ashley Allard.
In the first period, Allard nearly scored three minutes into the game, but junior goaltender Noemi Martinez made a great save for New Hampshire.
Later in the period, the Wildcats had a series of three consecutive shots. Two were blocked and another was saved by Chan.
In the waning moments of the opening 20 minutes, New Hampshire had additional scoring chances after UConn freshman defender Camryn Grimley was sent to the box for interference. However, one minute into the power play, freshman forward Nina Rossi was called for interference, making it four-on-four.
Following sporadic shots by both teams through the first nine minutes of the second period, junior defenseman Lucie Legro was called for holding, providing the spark the Huskies needed. Then, 43 seconds into the power play, Allard missed a slap shot but collected the rebound and fed the puck to Woodworth, whose shot found the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Throughout the remaining 10 minutes of the period, New Hampshire had a multitude of scoring opportunities, but Connecticut’s defense held their ground.
In the final 10 minutes of the period, UConn blocked five Wildcat shots. Junior defender Julia Stephen was responsible for two of those blocks.
The Husky blocks continued into the third period. In the first three minutes, Stephen recorded two more blocks, and Woodworth had another.
From that point, Connecticut’s defense continued to stifle New Hampshire’s offense despite committing numerous penalties.
The Wildcats started to gain momentum as the period went on, but their comeback effort was ultimately held off thanks to two crucial penalties committed by New Hampshire forwards Courtney Lilley and Danika Botterill.
Chan ended the game with 16 saves and recorded her fourth shutout. Connecticut outshot New Hampshire 34 to 18 in the contest.
Game 2: Connecticut 2, New Hampshire 3 – Saturday, Jan. 31
Nearly two minutes into overtime, Cabral was set up by senior forward Alyson Hush to score the game-winning goal after a Botterill missed shot.
Since November, Chan has only allowed three or more goals in the contest three times.
Connecticut came rushing out of the gates, forcing New Hampshire into playing defense for a majority of the period. In the first five minutes, UConn attempted three shots, including two that bounced off the post.
Throughout the next few minutes, UConn added four more shots to their total. Two of those shots were rejected by Legro.
By the end of the period, UC attempted 12 shots to UNH’s six.
The Huskies stayed on the attack into the second period. Their attack efforts broke through 10 minutes into the second when sophomore forward Claire Murdoch found the back of the net for the seventh time this season to make the score 1-0.
It wasn’t until freshman defender True Thompson committed a penalty nearly 19 minutes into the period that New Hampshire was given life. As a team, they rattled off seven consecutive shots before the expiration of the second period clock.
The Wildcats carried their positive momentum into the final 20 minutes of regulation. Nearly four minutes in, Botterill evened the ledger at one after a Cabral assist.
Following that goal, both teams traded missed shots until sophomore defender Addison Finn broke the deadlock with just under seven minutes remaining, 2-1.
However, this lead was short-lived, as just over three minutes later, Thompson powered the puck into the net to level the game at two.
Despite winning the opening face-off of overtime, Connecticut failed to keep possession of the puck. New Hampshire strung together two consecutive shots before Hush was set up to score the game winner.
In the game, UConn outshot the Wildcats 51-41 and three of the game’s goals came in the final ten minutes of regulation and overtime.
Connecticut’s next duel will take place on Feb. 6 when they travel to Providence to take on the Friars.