Bulldogs Come-up Empty Versus Saints

Photo by Sam Rubin

Boxscore

CANTON, N.Y. -- Brittony Chartier stopped 35 shots as No. 5 St. Lawrence blanked Yale 4-0 Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena. Freshman goaltender Genny Ladiges made 29 stops for the Bulldogs, but goals from four different St. Lawrence players made the difference.
 
St. Lawrence (14-5-3, 8-1-1 ECAC Hockey) struck quickly. Ladiges stopped the first shot she saw, an open slap shot from the left point by forward Carson Duggan 20 seconds into the game. But the Saints kept the puck in the Yale zone, and 14 seconds later forward Alley Bero was able to chip one in from just in front of the net to give St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead.
 
The Saints continued to control play early on, and a good job of forechecking caused a Yale turnover that freed up forward Alison Domenico for a shot that Ladiges was able to stop. The Bulldogs got their first shot on goal four minutes in, and two minutes later freshman forward Becky Mantell just missed getting to a loose puck in front of the Saints net that deflected off a St. Lawrence skate towards Chartier.
 
Ladiges continued to stand her ground as the period wore on, getting a piece of a blast by defenseman Britni Smith to deflect the puck into the corner five minutes in, then denying Duggan when she got behind the Yale defense two minutes after that.
 
Yale got its first power play midway through the period but was unable to convert. The Bulldogs did start generating some more offense, though, and shortly after killing off the first Bulldog penalty of the game senior defenseman Helen Resor created a golden scoring chance. She stopped a St. Lawrence shot with her skate in front of the Yale goal, then skated the puck all the way up to the other end of the ice for a shot that Chartier was unable to control. Junior forward Berit Johnson got to the rebound and put another shot on net, but Chartier turned that one aside as well. The Saints took their 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
 
The night before, St. Lawrence had limited Brown to 20 shots for the game in beating the Bears 3-2. The Bulldogs would put 20 shots on net in the second period alone, but Chartier was up to the task. She stopped a Resor shot 90 seconds in, then turned aside senior forward Kristen Stupay's shot off the rebound and was eventually able to cover the puck with Stupay and junior forward Caroline Murphy chipping away at it. Four minutes later she denied a pair of shots from the blue line by junior defenseman Alyssa Clarke, and then sticked a hard slap shot from Resor up into the netting behind the goal.
 
Ladiges made a diving cover of a loose puck right after Yale was hit with another penalty at 8:36 of the second, and senior forward Crysti Howser brought that St. Lawrence power play to an early end by drawing a penalty on the Saints. Yale controlled play with the teams skating 4-on-4, but Chartier stopped a wrister from freshman forward Aleca Hughes and also deflected away a hard shot from Resor. As Yale began its abbreviated power play sophomore defenseman Samantha MacLean stopped a puck along the right boards and got off a hard shot that Chartier was able to stop. Shortly after that the Bulldogs had another golden chance, but freshman forward Heather Grant sent the rebound of a shot by Clarke wide with Chartier out of position.
 
The Saints extended the lead to 2-0 when forward Marianna Locke deflected in a shot by defenseman Courtney Sawchuk at 12:12 of the second. Right after that, with Yale on the power play, the Saints nearly scored short-handed but were denied thanks to a great effort from Ladiges. A turnover gave defenseman Josee Belanger a 2-on-0 breakaway, but Ladiges came out to play her and got enough of her wrist shot to send it high and wide of the net.
 
St. Lawrence capitalized on the next Yale penalty, with Smith knocking the puck in at 16:16 of the second to make it 3-0. Another Bulldog infraction wound up leading to a Yale short-handed scoring chance with a minute to play in the second. Senior forward Danielle Kozlowski forced a turnover right in front of the St. Lawrence net, but Chartier stopped her shot and the Saints went into the third period up 3-0.
 
After their second-period barrage, the Bulldogs could only manage seven more shots on Chartier in the third, and she stopped them all. Defenseman Jordan Pyers banged home a centering pass from forward Lisa Batchelor at 12:46 to make the final score 4-0.
 
Yale (7-11-0, 3-8-0 ECAC Hockey) returns home to face Cornell next Friday at 7:00 p.m.