STORRS, Conn - No. 4 New Hampshire snapped the No. 8 University of Connecticut women's ice hockey winning streak at nine, handing the Huskies a 4-1 loss at Mark Edward Freitas on Sunday afternoon. UConn's junior Jennifer Chaisson (Cumberland, Ont.) scored for the second consecutive game with her 10th of the season in the first period.
In a span of just under four minutes, the Wildcats (16-6-5, 10-5-2-0) mounted a 2-0 lead with the Huskies allowing the most number of goals scored against them since Jan. 8. Sarah Cuthbert opened scoring exactly six minutes in to the opening period of play and Courtney Birchard added another with her ninth of the season.
Shannon Sisk had the assist on Cuthbert's goal while Kelly Paton and Micaela Long aided Birchard on the power play to a 2-0 New Hampshire lead.
Junior Jennifer Chaisson (Cumberland, Ont.) scored for the second-consecutive game with assists from rookie linemates Kelly Horan (Methuen, Mass.) and Elisabeth Stathopulos (Toronto, Ont.) at 11:22. Stathopulos won the battle along the boards sending the pass to Horan who sent to Chaisson waiting in front of the Wildcat net. Chaisson's goal cut the UConn deficit by one and the Huskies entered the first intermission, trailing 2-1.
Despite scoring only once, the Huskies battled to a greater number of scoring opportunities than the opposition. UConn finished with a 25-18 advantage in shots, including a 10-6 advantage after the first period.
Neither team got on the board in the second period with Connecticut's Alexandra Garcia (Pointe-Claire, Que.) making seven saves and New Hampshire's Lindsey Minton turning aside six shots. Garcia finished the game with 14 saves while Minton turned aside 24 UConn scoring opportunities.
Long and Paton made it a multiple-point game for themselves, assisting Kristina Lavoie's power-play goal 3:25 into the final period of regulation. Paton scored an unassisted empty-net goal with less than two minutes remaining in the third to give the game its 4-1 final.
Despite the loss, the Huskies remain tied in second in the Hockey East standings with Northeastern. UConn (18-7-5, 9-4-4-1) resumes the season on the road with a 7 p.m. game against current league leader Providence on Friday, Feb. 12. The Huskies host the Friars for a 4 p.m. contest on Saturday, Feb. 13 at Freitas Ice Forum.
Game Notes
- In addition to snapping the Huskies winning-streak at nine games and their unbeaten streak at 11, the loss snaps UConn's streak of Hockey East games in which it garnered each of the two possible two points in the standings. That streak dated back to a shootout win at Boston University on Dec. 5 this season.
- This is the first loss the Huskies have suffered in the New Year and first since a 2-1 loss at then-No. 6/7 Harvard.
- Kelly Horan and Elisabeth Stathopulos both finished the weekend with three assists.
- It is the first time in 10 games that the Huskies did not score a power-play goal. The last game UConn did not capitalize on the power play was against Dartmouth on Jan. 3.