Quinnipiac University
Connecticut
No. 10 QU Women's Ice Hockey Shuts Out UConn, 3-0, in Season Opening Victory
10/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
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Hamden, Conn. – The No. 10 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team started off the season with a dominant shutout victory over the UConn Huskies, 3-0, on Friday evening from the High Point Solutions Arena.
Freshman Taylar Cianfarano (Oswego, New York), junior Nicole Brown (Oshawa, Ontario) and junior Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) each registered goals for the Bobcats (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) in the season opening victory.
Senior goaltender Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minnesota) was lights out in goal for Quinnipiac, stopping all nine shots she faced in the win for her 10th career shutout.
From opening puck drop, the Bobcats dominated possession of the puck as UConn could not get much offense going. Junior Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ontario) nearly gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead about five minutes into the game when she was stonewalled by UConn goaltender Elaine Chuli with a pad save.
Cianfarano gave the Bobcats a 1-0 midway through first period and they did not look back. After a delayed penalty allowed Laden to leave the ice, the Bobcats brought on an extra attacker. Senior Erica Uden Johansson (Sundsvall, Sweden) stole the puck in the offensive end and nudged a pass to Kosta where she centered a pass to Cianfarano in the slot to tuck the puck into the far post.
Just 2:54 into the second period, Brown tallied her first goal of the season. Sophomore Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario) dropped a pass off for junior Lindsey West (Ajax, Ontario) where she wristed a shot towards the goal but Brown redirected the shot past Chuli to make it 2-0 Quinnipiac.
Later in the period, Connery finished off the scoring for the Bobcats after sophomore Taryn Baumgardt (Innisfail, Alberta) sent a shot on net that was tipped by senior Morgan Fritz-Ward (Mason City, Iowa) and saved by Chuli. The puck remained loose in the crease and Connery won the scrum and sent the puck over the goal line to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.
Early in the third period, the Huskies had a few opportunities to get on the scoreboard but Laden came up big in net. With 14:05 remaining the first period, Laden made a huge one-on-one pad save as Emily Snodgrass snuck behind the defense and forced Laden to come up big in goal.
Brown nearly added a second goal midway through the final period but sent the puck wide left of the net.
Chuli finished with 33 saves in goal for the Huskies who drop to 0-2-1 with the loss.
The Bobcats return to action next Saturday with its first road trip of the season, taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania. Game time to be announced at a later date.
