It’s not only March Madness in basketball. Saturday, March 11, 2023, the #4-seeded Yale Bulldogs hosted the #5-seeded Northeastern University Huskies in the Quarterfinals of the NCAA NC Women’s Ice Hockey Championship at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, CT. The winner would move on to the Frozen Four in Duluth, Minnesota, and one step closer to winning the National Championship.
Photo Cred: http://www.news.northeastern.edu
Northeastern came into the game with a 33-2-1(24-2-1 in conference) record. They have the best goaltender in the nation Gwyneth Philips, who carried a 0.81 Goals Against Average and 0.960 Save Percentage into her 37th straight start. Yale came into the game with a record of 28-3-1(19-2-1 conference) and the 5th-best offense in the nation with a total of 131 goals scored and an average of 4.09 goals scored per game.
Photo Cred: Photo Cred: http://www.news.northeastern.edu
The first period was quiet on the scoring end, but Northeastern Huskies outshot Yale 12-10. It took under 5 minutes of the second period for the first goal. Northeastern Freshman Lily Shannon capitalized on a Yale turnover with an assist from Sophomore Sklar Irving. The Huskies controlled the rest of the second period. They had the best scoring chances and caused Yale to make sloppy mistakes.
Yale appeared to gain momentum late in the second at the 16:44 mark. But it was called back due to the stick of Yale’s player being above the goalpost when she hit the puck into the net. After the called-back goal, Yale couldn’t get anything going for the rest of the game. They broke the shutout for Philips with under 5 minutes left in the third. The Bulldogs were unable to prevent Northeastern from adding to their lead.
Photo Cred: Northeastern Athletics
At the 2:27 and 9:27 mark, to put the game away with a Shorthanded empty net goal at 19:21. The Northeastern Huskies will now head to Minnesota. They will face the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Semi-Finals for a chance to battle for the National Title. It’s their third straight trip to the Frozen Four.
