NCAA Week 6 Preview: Ivies Look to Remain Undefeated

After Princeton and Harvard expectedly opened their seasons with wins, this week brings intrigue to see if they can keep rolling. The No. 9 Princeton Tigers draw a tough Yale Bulldogs squad that just manhandled RIT in both games by a spread of 12GF to 3GA. Many will be watching to see how No. 7 St. Lawrence fares against Harvard. Still undefeated, St. Lawrence has been one of the hottest teams in the nation — and Harvard hasn’t had enough game action — leaving this game a hard-to-predict wildcard. In addition to these Ivy-centric games, the No. 10 Bemidji State Beavers take on the unranked North Dakota in an important WCHA matchup; the Fighting Hawks have jockeyed with the Beavers in the bottom portion of the polls this season and could surge back in with a winning weekend.

John Mazza previews Week 6:

No. 9 Princeton @ Yale, Saturday, October 29

• Princeton opened their season with two wins over Providence.
• In the season opener on Saturday, senior Molly Contini (Arthur, ON) scored 2 goals to lead the Tigers to a 4-2 victory. She also had a goal and 2 assists on Sunday to help finish the sweep.
• On Sunday’s crushing 7-3 victory, five Princeton players had a multipoint game. This includes junior Kiersten Falck (Ham Lake, MN), who had 3 assists on the afternoon.
• Yale also started their season strong with a sweep of RIT.
• Sophomore Jordan Chancellor (Ramsey, MN) had a strong showing this weekend. After tallying the first goal for the Bulldogs in Friday’s 4-1 victory, she also got 2 assists during Saturday’s 8-2 rout.
• In both games this past weekend, senior forward Krista Yip-Chuck (Whitby, ON) had multipoint nights. On Friday she got the assist on Taylor Marchin’s (Algonac, MI) goal, as well as the empty-net goal. On Saturday she tallied 3 points, with 1 goal and 2 assists./

No. 10 Bemidji State @ North Dakota, Friday, October 28, and vs. North Dakota Saturday, October 29

• Bemidji State came out winless against Minnesota-Duluth this weekend.
• Despite making 39 saves, goaltender Brittni Mowat (Glenboro, MB) could not keep the Beavers from falling to the Bulldogs 2-1 on Friday.
• It took a shootout to decide Saturday’s game. After ending in a 3-3 tie, the game went into overtime. Despite great efforts, neither team could find the back of the net. UMD’s Lara Stalder scored the only goal during the shootout, giving the Bulldogs the extra point in the WCHA standings.
• North Dakota couldn’t come up with a win against No. 1 Wisconsin this past weekend. They look to get back into the top 10 this week against Bemidji.
• In the 2-0 loss on Saturday, goalie Lexie Shaw (Troy, MI) made 38 saves. She was a major part of the Fighting Hawks penalty kill, spearheading the team to a perfect 9-9 on the kill.
• Jordan Hampton (Foxborough, MA) ended the Badgers’ chance of back-to-back shutouts at the 13:51 mark in the second period. Coming in on the three-on-two rush, Hampton received the puck from Amy Menke (Shakopee, MN) and put it past UW netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens./

Harvard @ No. 7 St. Lawrence, Saturday, October 29

• Harvard opened the regular season with a 5-1 victory over Dartmouth.
• Senior Sydney Daniels (Southwick, MA) netted her second hat trick of her career, leading the Crimson to the win.
• Netminder Brianna Laing (Marblehead, MA) had a stellar night. She made 28 saves and also tallied an assist on sister Lexie Laing’s (Marblehead, MA) goal.
• In the home-and-home series against Vermont, St. Lawrence came away with the sweep, remaining unbeaten.
• Freshman Jacquie Diffley (Burlington, MA) scored the game-winning goal on Friday night. After coming of the PK, Kennedy Marchment (Courtice, ON) found Diffley, who backhanded it into the net.
• With 21.9 seconds left in regulation on Saturday, junior forward Hannah Miller (North Vancouver, BC) scored, lifting St. Lawrence past the Bobcats./

No. 4 Boston College @ Connecticut, Friday, October 28 and vs. Connecticut Saturday, October 29

• Trying to reclaim a top-five spot, BC came away with a tie and a win against the then No. 4 Quinnipiac Bobcats.
• After a stellar weekend, junior goaltender Katie Burt (Lynn, MA) was awarded Hockey East Player of the Week. On Friday she made 23 saves and earned her first shutout of the season and 24^th of her career. On Saturday, she kept the Bobcats to just 1 goal after making 17 saves.
• Caitrin Lonergan (Roslindale, MA) was the leading scorer for the Eagles this weekend, after tallying a goal and 2 assists in Saturday’s 4-1 victory.
• Playing Penn State at home, UConn tied 0-0 on Friday and got their first home win after Saturday’s 4-2 victory.
• Junior netminder Annie Belanger (Sherbrooke, QB) earned her first collegiate shutout after stopping 39 shots in the scoreless game on Friday.
• Junior Leah Lum (Richmond, BC) led the Huskies to a 4-2 victory after scoring the game-winning goal at 14:35 in the third. She later went on to score an empty-net goal, ending all hope Penn State had of coming back./

Mercyhurst @ Robert Morris, Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29

• Mercyhurst dropped both games last weekend against the Cornell Big Red.
• In Friday’s tilt, the Lakers got on the board first with Rachael Smith’s (Stoney Creek, ON) power play goal in the first period. Unfortunately, this lead would not last, as Cornell would go on to win 3-1.
• Both Jillian Skinner (Markham, ON) and Molly Blasen (Okemos, MI) led the team in points this weekend, notching an assist each in both games.
• Despite going to overtime in both games against Merrimack, Robert Morris could not find a win, dropping the first game and tying the second.
• Junior Brittany Howard (St. Thomas, ON) scored early in the second, giving Robert Morris a 3-2 lead on Friday. The Colonials could not hold this lead and lost the game 4-3 late in the overtime period.
• On Saturday, Amber Rennie (Saskatoon, SK) led the team in points after getting assists on each of the Colonials’ 3 goals./

Note: All rankings listed are from Week 5’s SB Nation’s Women’s College Hockey Division 1 Poll.