NCAA’s Top Moments: Part 2

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Welcome back for the second half of the top NCAA moments this season! If you’re just joining us for this installment, be sure to check out Part One from Angelica last weekend, as she looked at some top goaltending, the return of Robert Morris, and our eventual DI champions. Now let’s jump into the rest of our list, shall we? 

New Champions in the East

Hockey East has had a lot of dominant schools throughout its history. Providence, New Hampshire, Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern have all captured the title over the years. And now they’ve got one more school on their list of winners – the University of Connecticut. 

The Huskies were dominant all season, finishing with a record of 28-8-5. They had to break past Holy Cross, BC, and Northeastern in the Hockey East tournament to win the Bertagna Trophy for the first time, and they did so with strong overtime wins over the latter pair at home. 

Backstopped by incredible goaltending from both Tia Chan and Megan Warrener all season, the Huskies were a solid team across the board. Both of their special teams finished in the top-15 nationally, and their 1.2 goals against average was the best mark in the statistic across Division I. 

They were bounced from their first NCAA tournament after a tight, double-overtime 1-0 loss to Minnesota-Duluth. However, the team is expected to return a large part of the roster next season, and should contend for back-to-back titles in 2024-25. 

Stonehill’s Rise to the NEWHA Crown

Similarly to UConn, the Stonehill Skyhawks also secured their first conference title, and first NCAA tournament berth, after defeating Franklin Pierce in triple overtime 3-2 in the NEWHA championship. The kicker? Stonehill was playing at the DIII level just two years ago. 

First year head coach Lee-J Mirasolo and her squad built upon the momentum from last season, and finished with a record of 21-16-2. They lost just one game in their last nine of the season, and it was their NCAA opening round matchup against Cornell. Their penalty kill was 11th best in the country, with a 87.7% success rate, and they were one of just 12 teams to score over 100 goals all season. 

Sophomore standout Alexis Petford received national attention, securing Third Team All-USCHO honors, and was the only player from NEWHA to receive national honors. She finished the season with 35 points, including 20 goals which was tied for first overall in the conference. The forward has only gotten better, but has of April 8th has entered the transfer portal for next year.

Beanpot History at TD Garden 

For 40 years the Beanpot championship has been played at the homes of the four Boston-area schools who partake in the iconic tournament. This year, for the first time ever, BC, BU, Harvard, and Northeastern got to play for the trophy at TD Garden. 

And did so in front of the largest crowd in New England Women’s hockey history. 

10,633 fans packed TD Garden on January 23rd to watch BC and Harvard square off in the consolation match, before BU and Northeastern played in the title game later that night. The Crimson were able to pull off a shootout upset over the Eagles, while the Huskies secured back-to-back titles thanks to an overtime winner from junior forward Skylar Irving. 

It was a night full of dramatics and history for all four teams involved, and set the precedent moving forward for the many Beanpots to come. 

Clarkson Goes Back to the Frozen Four… After Three Extra Periods

Clarkson hadn’t made the Frozen Four since 2019, where they’d gotten shut out by Wisconsin in the semifinal round. Following their 3-0 loss to Colgate in the ECAC championship game, the Golden Knights hosted Minnesota in the 4/5 matchup for the NCAA tournament. What followed was the longest game in Clarkson history, and one of the longest in tournament history overall. 

The two teams were tied at two following 60 minutes of regulation, and stayed tied for another 60 minutes of extra time. A penalty on Audrey Wethington got the Knights the extra skater, and Dominique Petrie notched her second of the game on the ensuing power play to send Clarkson to Durham. 

NCAA goaltender of the year Michelle Pasiechnyk made a career-high 61 saves in the game, and the Knights came back from being down 2-0 early in the first to score three straight for the victory. 

Friendship Series Returns

Princeton and Providence headed to Belfast in January to play in the Friendship Series, where the Tigers swept the Friars in two strong games. It was the first time the series had been played in Northern Ireland since 2019-2020, and just the third time overall. 

Led by three goals from Sarah Paul, and six points for superstar Sarah Fillier, Princeton took down Providence 6-1 and 2-1 for the sweep. 5,000+ fans made it to SSE Arena for the pair of contests, and were treated to solid hockey from the two squads, including the tic-tac-toe play below from the Tigers to secure the series title. 

Honorable Mention: Folks, We Got a Michigan 

Only two women have ever scored a lacrosse-style goal in a hockey game – Slovakian sensation Nela Lopušanová and now, Brown’s Margot Norehad. 

The first-year forward went all around the net in the Bears Jan. 27 game against Quinnipiac, before whipping the eventual game winner up and over the shoulder of Logan Angers. 

The clip made the top spot on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 and for good reason. It’ll go down as one of if not the coolest goal all season, and will be making highlight reels for years to come.