No. 5/5 QU Women's Ice Hockey Faces UConn in First Round of Nutmeg Classic on Friday

Friday, November 27

Ingalls Rink - New Haven, Conn.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

University of Connecticut

No. 5/5 QU Women's Ice Hockey Faces UConn in First Round of Nutmeg Classic on Friday

11/25/2015 6:12:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: QU Sports Information

No. 5/5 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (9-1-3, 5-1-2 ECAC Hockey) vs.
University of Connecticut Huskies (6-6-2, 3-4-0 Hockey East)
Date: Nov. 27, 2015
Time: 7 P.M.
Location: Ingalls Rink - New Haven, Conn.
All-Time Series vs. UConn: 5-10-0
Last Meeting: W, 3-0 (Oct.3, 2014 in Hamden, Conn.)

Follow the Bobcats:
Live Stats: Nutmeg Classic First Round vs. UConn
Twitter: @QU_WIH
Game Notes

Thanksgiving Dessert
The No. 5/5 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team will shake off the tryptophan on Friday, Nov. 27 when they will travel down Whitney Ave. to Yale University to face the UConn Huskies in the first round of the 12th annual Nutmeg Classic at 7 P.M.

All-Time Against UConn
The Bobcats are 5-10-0 all-time against the Huskies but have held the advantage in recent history, going 5-2-0 in the last seven meetings and winning the last three. Over the Bobcats' three game-winning streak, they have outscored the Huskies 13-3. Four of the Bobcats' five wins over the Huskies have come in the Nutmeg Classic, with the Bobcats holding a 4-3-0 record. Last season, the Bobcats faced the Huskies in their season opener for the first time since the 2012 Nutmeg Classic. In the season opener last year, the Bobcats won 3-0 behind Chelsea Laden's first of 16 shutouts last season and goals from Taylar Cianfarano, Nicole Brown and Nicole Connery.

Scouting the Huskies
Despite a 6-6-2 (3-4-0 WHEA) record, UConn has won two straight games to pull their record above .500. The Huskies have played a tough schedule this season, facing four teams that have been ranked at some point during the 2015-16 season, going 0-5-1 in six games. The lone tie comes against newly-ranked No. 10 Colgate, a 3-3 decision on Oct. 18. The Huskies have struggled offensively with 25 goals in 14 games, led by Brittany Berisoff's five goals. Berisoff is second on the team with eight points to sophomore defenseman Leah Lum who leads the team with eight assists and nine points. Only three players (Berisoff, Jordy Zacharias and Justine Fredette) have recorded three or more goals this season with no Huskies recording double digit points. Outside of Lum, the next highest scoring blue-liner is Caitlin Hewes with two goals and one assists for three points. Senior goaltender Elaine Chuli continues to anchor the Huskies between the pipes despite a 3-5-1 record. Chuli has made 370 saves on 389 shots, facing an average of 43.2 shots per game. Chuli comes into Friday's game with a 2.10 GAA and a solid .951 save percentage. Special teams have hurt the Huskies this season, with the power play converting at 17.8 percent (8 for 45) and the penalty kill only killing off penalties 78 percent of the time (32 of 41).

Multimedia
Friday night's game against the Huskies will not have a video stream but there will be free live stats available by going to QuinnipiacBobcats.com and clicking on the live stats link in the schedule. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter all season long by following the team's Twitter account, @QU_WIH.

2014 Nutmeg Classic
Last season, the Bobcats cruised to their fifth Nutmeg Classic Championship title in program history with a 5-2 victory over Yale in the first round and a 3-1 win over Clarkson in the championship game. Emma Woods was named the tournament's most valuable player while goaltender Chelsea Laden was named the tournament's most valuable goaltender. In addition, the Bobcats added Cydney Roesler and Morgan Fritz-Ward to the all-tournament team, It was an impressive showing for the Bobcats as they knocked off Clarkson for the second straight week after facing them in a conference match the week before. Quinnipiac's first round opponent, Yale, went on to lose in the consolation game to the UConn Huskies, to round out the four spots.

Nutmeg Classic History
With their 2014 Nutmeg Classic title, Quinnipiac claimed the top spot for most titles won in the 11-year history of the tournament prior to this season's edition. Quinnipiac has won five tournament titles while UConn has won four, followed by Boston College and Yale winning one each. Each year, the tournament consists of Quinnipiac, UConn and Yale with a fourth team invited to join. Boston College is the only non-Connecticut team to win the Nutmeg Classic. This year, Merrimack has been invited to the tournament in their first season of Division I women's ice hockey.

Bobcats in the Polls
For the ninth consecutive week this season, the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team was ranked in the top 10 of both the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, climbing up to No. 5 in each poll. The Bobcats have been ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Poll for 54 consecutive weeks. In this week's poll, Quinnipiac is one of just two schools to have both their men's and women's ice hockey teams ranked in the top five of the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll, joining Boston College as the only other school.

Bobcats in the Pairwise
The Bobcats soared up the PairWise Rankings after a shutout road sweep of Clarkson and St. Lawrence this past weekend, checking in at No. 5 in the most up to date Pairwise Rankings as of Wednesday morning. Harvard (No. 4) is the only ECAC Hockey team above the Bobcats in the Pairwise rankings, with Clarkson (No. 6), Princeton (No. 10), St. Lawrence (No. 10), Dartmouth (No. 13) and Colgate (No. 14) trailing the Bobcats. The USCHO.com Pairwise Ranking attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I women's hockey tournament.

ECAC Hockey Weekly Awards
After impressive weekends on the Bobcats' road trip to the North Country, Taylar Cianfarano was named as the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for the second time this season and in her career while Sydney Rossman was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week, also her second time this season and of her career. Cianfarano has now been honored with an ECAC Hockey weekly award seven times in her career after five rookie of the week awards last season,

She Did What?
Taylar Cianfarano had a weekend to remember in the Bobcats' sweep, scoring five of the team's eight goals to lead the nation in goals scored during the past weekend of college hockey action. Cianfarano tallied back-to-back multiple goal games with a hat trick against the nationally-ranked Clarkson Golden Knights before netting a pair of goals at St, Lawrence the following day. With five goals, Cianfarano now has 14 this season to lead all ECAC Hockey skaters while her 20 points are tied for second in the conference. In conference play alone, Cianfarano has scored nine goals and 11 points to lead the conference, and is the only ECAC Hockey player to record a hat trick in conference play.

Keep the Puck
Cianfarano was not the only multiple goal scorer for the Bobcats as Randi Marcon picked up a pair of goals, the first two of her collegiate career, in the 5-0 win over St. Lawrence. Marcon's first goal came in the second period before netting a third period goal for the second of her career. Heading into the game, Marcon had one career point off an assist against Yale on Oct. 31, giving her three points in conference play.

Sharp Lantz
Miranda Lantz found the scoresheet for the first time in her collegiate career in the Bobcats 5-0 win over St. Lawrence on Saturday, picking up her first two assists for her first two career points. Lantz picked up the primary assist on Melissa Samoskevich's game-winning goal in the first period before picking up her second career assist on Marcon's second career goal.

The Better Connery
Nicole Connery finished the weekend second on the team with four points after picking up four assists. Connery recorded back-to-back two assist games for her fourth multiple-point game of the season. Connery's four points snapped a six-game pointless streak. On the season, Connery has two goals and seven assists for nine points.

Another Winner
After three games without a point, Melissa Samoskevich returned to the score-sheet with her third game-winning goal of the season after scoring the first goal in the Bobcats' 5-0 rout of St. Lawrence. Three of Samoskevich's four goals have gone for game-winners, and she is second on the team with 14 points in her first season with the Bobcats. Samoskevich's 10 assists are tied for first among ECAC Hockey freshman and fourth among all ECAC Hockey skaters.

Into the Woods
Emma Woods is riding a three game point streak after picking up a pair of assists over the weekend. Woods is third on the team with 13 points on four goals and nine assists, where she is second on the team in assists and third on the team in points. Woods is also tied for ninth in the conference with nine assists.

Nifty 50
After hitting 50 career points, Cydney Roesler became the 20^th member of Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team to reach the 50 point plateau, and fourth defenseman to do so. Roesler recorded an assist against the Saints on Saturday to pick up her 36^th career assist, tied for 10^th in program history in assists. This season, Roesler is fourth on the team with 11 points on four goals and seven assists, and is 13^th in the country among defenseman with 0.85 points per game.

She's a Brick…Wall
Sydney Rossman became the first goaltender in college women's ice hockey history to record back-to-back shutouts in the North Country road trip with a 3-0 win over Clarkson and 5-0 win over St. Lawrence. As part of Rossman's historic weekend, she recorded a single-game career-high 29 saves before picking up 17 saves against St. Lawrence. Rossman is third among all ECAC Hockey goaltenders that have played at least 50 percent of their teams minutes in GAA at 1.28 and sixth with a .929 save percentage.

Defensive Dandy
The Bobcats have continued to be one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking in the top five in the country in numerous defensive categories. The Bobcats are third in the country in shots allowed per game at 18.46, fourth in goals allowed per game at 1.31, tied for fifth in penalty kill at 91.7 percent.

On a Roll
Since falling to Yale on Oct. 31, the Bobcats are riding a six game unbeaten streak and have won three consecutive games. Quinnipiac has outscored opponents 12-2 over their past three games and 16-4 in the last six games. This is the 12^th unbeaten streak of six or more games for the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team over the past six seasons.

Can't Stop Us
The Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team became the first team in women's college history to shut out both the Clarkson Golden Knights and St. Lawrence Saints in the same road trip. The Bobcats outscored both teams by a combined 8-0, including a 5-0 rout of St. Lawrence. The Bobcats also shutout nationally-ranked Clarkson, 3-0.

Great Timing
Quinnipiac was able to extend its unbeaten streak to six games thanks to their first win at Appleton Arena against St. Lawrence since Nov. 12, 2011, a span of just over four years between victories at St. Lawrence.