By David F. Pendrys (Eyewitness account checked against official box score)

NEW HAVEN, CT- Yale only needed to look minutes north of them to find tough competition in the form of the #5 Quinnipiac Bobcats, but on Friday night at Ingalls Rink, the Bulldogs shut down the visitors from Hamden with a 3-0 victory. Jaimie Leonoff was stellar in goal for Yale coming up with 37 saves under often relentless pressure from QU including during three Quinnipiac power plays.

Offensively, Yale didn’t take nearly as many shots as their foes, putting only 20 on QU’s Chelsea Laden, but they maneuvered in close three times and fought it past her. Krista Yip-Chuck was the lone scorer of the game through two periods as she had scored in each session. Both goals were assisted by Hanna Astrom, and Phoebe Staenz got in on the second goal as well. In the third it would be Astrom herself who defeated the veteran Quinnipiac keeper with assists from Kate Martini and Gretchen Tarrant.

Quinnipiac had put a lot of pressure on Yale including especially in the second where most of the period was spent in the Yale end. The Bobcats did an excellent job of stopping Yale momentum, but late in that period Yip-Chuck and Yale succeeded in driving to the QU including their lone goal of the period. Quinnipiac drew no penalties the entire game, and Yale only three including one when the game was largely out of reach.

The teams are still working on their ECAC playoff seeding. Quinnipiac drops to 23-7-3 (14-5-2 in conference) and Yale rises to 14-13-1 (11-10 in conference.). To wrap up the regular season, Yale is at home tomorrow to face Princeton, and Quinnipiac heads up to Providence to take on the Brown Bears.

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