NCAA Women’s Hockey Game of the Week: No. 4 Quinnipiac vs. No. 2 Yale

Story posted January 20, 2023 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

Hard to ask for much more than a top five battle nearing the end of the regular season.

Two ECAC rivals square off as the No. 2 Yale Bulldogs travels to Hamden, Connecticut to square off against the No. 4 Quinnipiac Bobcats.

Starting off with the road team, Yale is following a successful season which included a Frozen Four trip with another solid campaign in 2022-23.

The Bulldogs have picked up a 17-1-1 record this season and are currently riding a nine game winning streak.

Among those wins was a 3-1 win over No. 9 Clarkson in early January.

The Bulldogs have a pair of players putting up over 20 points with junior forward Elle Hartje being the team leader at 24.

Hartje is one of the top forwards in program history with her 51-point season in 2021-22 being the second most in Yale history.

Goaltending hasn’t been an issue for this team either with sophomore Pia Dukaric starting every contest this season.

Dukaric was one of the top goalies in the nation last season with her 1.36 goals against average being good enough for fifth in the nation and has only gotten better.

This season, that average is down to 1.14 with a save percentage at .948.

Dukaric allowed more than that average last time her and the Bulldogs took on Quinnipiac but Yale still came out with a 4-2 win in front of a home crowd.

That was the first loss for the Bobcats this season who currently have a 22-3 record and are winners of five in a row which includes two top-10 victories.

Leading the charge is junior forward Olivia Mobley who has 33 points to lead the team this season.

This would be the second time Mobley has led the team in that category during her career finishing with 34 points last season.

The Bobcats have had two goaltenders splitting time this season but graduate Logan Angers leads the two with 17 starts.

Through this point in the season, Angers holds a 14-3 record along with a 1.29 goals against average.

Junior Catie Boudiette has also started eight games in net for the Bobcats this season and is undefeated on the season picking up five shutouts.

Quinnipiac made a strong run in last season's NCAA Tournament before falling a round short of the Frozen Four against Ohio State, the same team who went on to defeat Yale in the next round before winning the NCAA championship.

The two teams remain the top teams in the ECAC conference with Quinnipiac four points ahead of Yale while having played one more game.

With this being the last time the two teams play in the regular season, this game could have huge implications on the rest of the year with less than a month to go.

Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.