STORRS, Conn. - The UConn women's ice hockey team suffered a 4-0 setback to Vermont on Friday afternoon at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum in the first Hockey East game of the season. With the loss, Connecticut drops to 3-5-0 overall (0-1-0 WHEA), while Vermont jumps up to 3-4-1 (1-0-0 WHEA).
Vermont used a pair of first period tallies from Brittany Zuback to gain a 2-0 handle on the Huskies. Zuback opened the scoring 5:49 minutes into the contest, stuffing home a loose puck in front of the net to put the Catamounts ahead by one. Zuback found the back of the net again at the 8:25 mark in a four-on-four situation, deflecting a UConn pass into the neutral zone and skating down the ice with teammate Amanda Pelkey on an uncontested two-on-none opportunity. Pelkey slid the puck across the slot for Zuback to deposit inside the left post to put the visitors up 2-0. Sarah Moses (New Hamburg, Ontario) made 13 first period stops to keep the game within reach.
Early in the second period, the Catamounts extended their lead to 3-0 when Greer Vogl scored her first goal of 2013, flicking a shot from the far wall past the pad of Moses and into the back of the net two minutes into the second period. Stephanie Raithby (London, Ontario) had UConn's best chance of the period, collecting a loose puck off Roxanne Douville's stick in front of the net, but couldn't muscle a shot by the Vermont goaltender before she was able to cover it up and force a faceoff.
Zuback capped off her stellar afternoon with a hat trick goal 44 seconds into the third period. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native fired a shot from just in front labeled for the inside of the right post. Zuback's performance this afternoon moves her to second on the team in scoring with five goals this season, trailing Pelkey's six scores. In the waning moments of the game, Rachel Farrel (Cheshire, Conn.) nearly got the Huskies on the board when she send a blistering shot from the top of the circle that clanged off the right pipe and away from danger. The Huskies could not use capitalize on a power play to spoil the shutout as time expired.
Moses stopped 38 shots between in the pipes in her fourth start for UConn. Her counterpart, Douville, finished the game with 28 saves for the Catamounts and improves to 1-2-1 with the shutout win.
The Huskies travel to Maine for their next conference game on Sunday, Nov. 3. The puck is set to drop at 3 p.m.