By David F. Pendrys

NEW HAVEN, CT – The Yale v. Harvard women’s hockey game was significant for what happened on the ice but just as importantly what happened off the ice as it was the annual White Out for Mandi game played in the honor of former Yale player Mandi Schwartz who lost her life to Leukemia. The Mandi Schwartz Foundation, headed up by a board including former Yale Captain Aleca Hughes, works to raise funds to battle Leukemia and also promote marrow drives to add potential donors to a registry that can help save lives. As of tonight, drives run by the foundation have helped save 27 lives. The foundation was on hand Friday night to raise funds and awareness.

Schwartz’s former teammate, Bray Ketchum, who now plays for the NWHL’s Riveters, spoke about the campaign and Mandi after her game Saturday. “I know the Schwartzes were following along and really excited that we’re still honoring Mandi to this day. What would be her 30th birthday is coming up next weekend, so it is a tough time for the family right now so I think this means a lot to them,” Ketchum said “Mandi was always the hardest worker on the team. Actually my Sophomore year she was the only one who actually completed our running test. That was in a testament to Mandi and who she was as a person. You knew she always had your back. She was a great teammate and friend, a competitor, She worked hard on and off the ice.”

Turning to the ice, Yale picked up a 3-2 victory, holding off a late charge from a determined Crimson squad for a valuable win as the ECAC regular season enters its final weeks.

Penalties would play a major role in this game as the first two goals came on power plays. Yale’s Greta Skarzynski put the Bulldogs up at 8:17 of the second when she received the puck at the top of the zone and blasted it by Harvard’s Beth Larcom assisted by Jordan Chancellor and Julia Yetman.

Harvard responded on their own skater advantage about three minutes later when Ali Peper teed up a blast from deep in the zone. It bounced and Nikki Friesen whacked it in from beside Yale’s Gianna Meloni to tie it up. Kaitlin Tse also picked up an assist.

Yale would get what they needed late in the period. After Rebecca Foggia took the puck into the zone, she sent it to Tess Dettling who broke in on Larcom and defeated her with a skillful move for a 2-1 lead. Mallory Souliotis picked up her 15^th assist as well on the swift play. Dettling notched her first NCAA goal in dramatic fashion.

Only seconds later, Emma Vlasic struck for Yale as well assisted by Lauren Moriyama in a super quick play to earn the eventual game winner.

In the third, Becky Dutton replaced Larcom in net and would not allow a Yale shot past her. Meanwhile Harvard attempted to get back into the game, launching 11 shots on Meloni compared to 4 Bulldogs attempts in reply. A costly Yale penalty would let Harvard back into it, when Emma Buckles got in close on the keeper and sent it into the net assisted by Haley Mullins and Becca Gilmore at 11:56. Dutton would prevent further damage when a persistent Dettling outraced the Harvard defenders to a puck and got a clean shot at the netminder only to be stopped.

Yale ‘s defense and Meloni’s netminding would stop the Crimson from scoring again even with Dutton pulled late in the game.

All in all Meloni made 29 saves on Harvard’s 31 shots. Larcom saved 21 of the 24 she faced, and Dutton went 4 for 4. Meloni rises to 4-2-1 overall as she has taken on a larger role lately. Larcon dips to 8-10-1. The Yale keeper was tasked with making crucial saves throughout the game as Harvard’s offense was buzzing, but nothing at even strength would get past her.

Shot Leaders:

Yale: Kaitlin Gately & Skarznyski (4), Dettling, Foggia, Vlasic (3)

Harvard: Kat Hughes (6), Becca Gilmore (5), Buckles & Mullins (4)

Blocks:

Yale: Skarzynski (4), Saroya Tinker & Foggia (3), Moriyama, Drexler, Souliotis, Vlasic, Julia Yetman (2), Sophie Veronneau, Dettling (1)

Harvard: Katie Glover (5), Kate Hallett (2) Buckles, Chelsea Ziadie, Brooke Jovanovich, Gilmore, Bradley Fusco (1)

Yale rises to 8-10-4 and 6-7-2 in ECAC play. Harvard drops to 8-11-1 and 6-8-1 in the ECAC.

Post Game Reaction

Head Coach Joakim Flygh

Tess Dettling and Gianna Meloni

Noticed Plays

These are plays that are noticed during game play. They are not exhaustive. A lot are missed. It‘s just what is seen. Read any of these as “at least” rather than “total”.Rather than write these out I am providing the raw notes. (A scoring chance doesn’t necessarily generate a shot. I only list the same scoring chance once in a player’s section.)

Key: (If you see one of these letters under a column it means the following.)

A – Led to a scoring chance. TA – Led to a team scoring chance.  SC – Scoring Chance  TSC – Team Scoring Chance ZE – Zone Entry O – Taken out of D-Zone S – Sent out of D-Zone GM – Out of goal mouth F- Fought it out of D-Zone. N – Led to a zone entry.  NA – Led to a zone entry and scoring chance. PK- On PK PP – On PP  C- Centering Pass DT  – Led to a defensive start. NA- Led to a zone entry and scoring chances.

Yale Noticed Plays (Larger Version here)

Harvard Noticed Plays (Larger Version Here)