Quinnipiac University
Yale
T.T. Cianfarano's Hat Trick Leads No. 5/5 QU Women's Ice Hockey To 4-1 Win Against Yale
1/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
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HAMDEN, Connecticut – Quinnipiac women's ice hockey freshman T.T. Cianfarano figured into all four of the No. 5/5 Bobcats' goals in a 4-1 win against Yale in an ECAC Hockey match-up at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. The first-year Bobcat tallied her first career hat trick and also assisted on a goal for a career-best four-point performance. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 18-1-3 overall and 11-1-2 in ECAC Hockey play while Yale drops to 7-9-1 overall and 4-6-0 in the league.
Cianfarano's hat trick is the first of her career, and the first at Quinnipiac since former All-American Kelly Babstock scored three goals in a 3-1 win against Princeton last season, on Jan. 7, 2014. Cianfarano is also the first freshman since Babstock to record a hat trick, as the latter did so at Clarkson on Jan. 8, 2011. Before Cianfarano's performance on Saturday afternoon, the last freshman with a hat trick at High Point Solutions Arena was also Babstock, doing so against Dartmouth on Nov. 11, 2010.
Erica Uden Johansson (Sundsvall, Sweden) scored Quinnipiac's other goal, which was set-up by Cianfarano as well. Nicole Connery (Newmarket, Ontario) had two assists in the Bobcats' win, while Cydney Roessler (Stittsville, Ontario), Emma Woods (Burford, Ontario), Lindsey West (Ajax, Ontario) and Kristen Tamberg (North Toronto, Ontario) also had assists in the Bobcats' fifth-consecutive win. In goal, Chelsea Laden (Lakeville, Minnesota) stopped 16 of Yale's 17 shots on goal for her 18th win of the year.
Cianfarano scored twice and figured into all three Bobcats' goals in the first period, with her first coming under four minutes into the game. She dropped a pass into the corner for Nicole Connery and then skated to the slot. Connery slid the puck between two Yale defenders back to Cianfarano who flipped a back-handed shot on Yale's goal that beat Bulldogs' goalie Jaimie Leonoff between the pads to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
It was short-lived as Yale's Eden Murray evened the score at 1-1. Stephanie Mock took a pass from Courtney Pensavalle behind the Quinnipiac goal and stepped out to the right of Laden. She sent the puck to the top of the crease where Murray re-directed it around Laden to tie the game.
Cianfarano gave Quinnipiac a 2-1 lead with her second goal of the game – this one on the power play- after cleaning up a loose puck in the crease and banging it home to give the Bobcats a one-goal lead. Cianfarano took a pass from Woods just below the goal line to the right of Leonoff. She then sent the puck through traffic to Tamberg at the point. Tamberg skated between the face-off circles and fired on goal, finding daylight between Leonoff's pads. The puck was redirected off the far post and across the crease before Cianfarano – opportunistically positioned on the doorstep – reached around Yale's goalie and knocked home the go-ahead goal.
Uden Johansson got on the board with less than four minutes to play with her ninth goal of the year. Cianfarano held the puck along the boards before sending it to West at the point. West then sent a laser across the Bulldogs' zone to Uden Johansson who one-timed the shot behind Leonoff to give Quinnipiac a 3-1 lead.
Halfway through the third, Cianfarano struck again to give Quinnipiac a three-goal lead. Roesler received a pass from Connery and blasted a shot from just below the blue line. Cianfarano picked up the rebound in the slot and went bar-down on Yale's Hanna Mandl to give the Bobcats a 4-1 lead.
The Bobcats are on the road for the next two weekends, first at Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pennsylvania on Jan. 16 and 17 before playing at Boston University on Jan. 21 and Boston College on Jan. 24.
