The Yale Bulldogs, Quinnipiac Bobcats, and UConn Huskies were the first three teams to advance at the NCAA women's hockey National Championship tournament winning their regional semifinal games.
The opening round of the NCAA women's hockey national championship tournament is in the books with the Yale Bulldogs, Quinnipiac Bobcats, and UConn Huskies advancing.
Yale Wins The Battle Of The Bulldogs
Yale won a nailbiter proving they were the top Bulldogs in the fight as they ousted the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs with a 1-0 shutout.
ECAC First Team All-Star and All-Rookie team member Molly Boyle scored the only goal of the game at 16:15 beating Eve Gascon with a wrister from the blueline.
Samson Frey posted the shutout in net for Yale stopping all 37 shots faced while Gascon made 36 of 37 stops.
Yale now advances to the regional final where they'll face top ranked Ohio State.
Murdoch and Chan Star For UConn
Claire Murdoch and Tia Chan were two of the top players in the nation down the stretch for Connecticut and they did it again facing Princeton in their regional semifinal leading the UConn Huskies to a 4-1 win.
Chan, a national finalist for the NCAA's Goaltender of the Year Award stopped 41 of 42 shots in the win.
On the offensive side of the puck Murdoch assisted on three goals for UConn, including a pair by senior Kyla Josifovic and the game's opener off the stick of Emma Eryou. Riley Sorokan had the only goal for Princeton, while Julia Pellerin iced the game for UConn scoring an empty net marker with 2:08 remaining in the game.
UConn has a legitimate shot to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four as they will play Penn State in their regional final.
Quinnipiac Shuts Out First Timers Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce performed better than expected in their regional semifinal against Quinnipiac, but it wasn't enough to knock off the higher ranked Bobcats who earned a 4-0 shutout.
National Goaltender of the Year top-three finalist Felicia Frank turned aside all 29 shots she faced for the shutout in Quinnipiac's win. After a scoreless first period Emerson Jarvis gave Quinnipiac all the offense they'd need, toe dragging around a pair of Franklin Pierce players before going five hole on netminder Jill Hertl who stopped 49 of 53 shots she faced.
Also scoring for Quinnipiac were Bryn Prier, Peyton Cormier, and Laurence Frenette.
Quinnipiac will face off against the reigning NCAA champion Wisconsin Badgers in the regional finals.
The fourth regional final will see 4th ranked Minnesota take on 5th ranked Northeastern with a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four on the line.