Following a three-goal outburst in the second period, the No. 6 UConn women’s hockey team (26-8-2, 17-6-1) coasted past Holy Cross (19-13-3, 10-11-3) to secure a 6-1 win in the Hockey East Semifinals.
The win advances the Huskies to the Hockey East Championship against Northeastern University, who beat the University of Vermont 3-1 on Tuesday.
The Huskies struck first thanks to a pair of long cross-ice passes. Senior defender Meghane Duchesne-Chalifoux sent one from right to left in the direction of forward Claire Murdoch. The sophomore immediately reversed it back to the other side towards the waiting stick of senior captain Kyla Josifovic. The forward sent a one-timer past Crusaders goalkeeper Abby Hornung for the first score of the game with 8:45 left in the first period.
It was Josifovic’s second straight game with a goal. The senior scored her first career postseason goal in the quarterfinals against the University of Maine and has been one of the main offensive forces in the Hockey East playoffs for the Huskies.
The Crusaders got the goal back with 1:40 left in the first. After UConn goalie Tia Chan made at least three saves across the Crusaders’ possession, freshman forward Violet Carroll, Holy Cross’ leading point scorer, finally found the back of the net to tie it at one.
The draw didn’t last long. Junior forward Julia Pellerin took a close-range pass from senior forward Megan Woodworth on the left side and carried the puck towards the middle of the ice. With the Crusaders defense giving her a cushion, Pellerin sent a slap shot past the outreached glove of Hornung to recapture the lead with 16:11 left in the second.
After assisting the second goal, Woodworth notched one of her own on a power play with less than two minutes to play in the second. Junior defender Maya Serdachny drove a hard shot from the Hockey East logo just inside the blue line. While Hornung made the save, Woodworth was well positioned in the crease and sent a backhand shot past Hornung on the rebound to extend the Huskies’ lead to two goals.
Just over a minute later, Josifovic delivered a pass into a scrum in front of the Crusaders’ goal. Junior forward Ashely Allard came out of the scramble with the puck and, though her initial attempt was blocked, sent a rebound in on a backhand shot from just outside the crease with 31 seconds left.
UConn went on to score a pair of insurance goals in the third. Serdachny tapped one in from a couple feet away with 9:19 to go after junior forward Livvy Dewar bounced a shot off Hornung’s leg protectors.
Senior forward Christina Walker extended the lead by one more with three and a half minutes left, lifting one over the glove of Hornung down the middle for the final score of the game.
Walker’s goal ended a rough day for Hornung who, despite stopping 32 UConn shots, posted only a .842 save percentage on the night.
By contrast, Hockey East Goaltender of the Year Tia Chan had another huge performance for the Huskies. The graduate student secured 27 saves and didn’t let one get past her after the first period.
Chan had a hand in the second period breakout for the Huskies, making a pair of exceptional close quarter saves. One came on a kick save of a slow-moving deflection, and another saw her dive across the crease and barely glove a shot from next to the left pipe.
The Huskies will return on for their last Hockey East conference matchup of the season on Saturday afternoon as they hit the road for the first time this postseason. They will take on No. 5 Northeastern University (28-7-1, 21-2-1) with puck drop scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The game will stream live on ESPNEWS.