The NCAA women’s hockey national tournament is underway. Yesterday, the last three quarter-final match ups were set as the University of Minnesota-Duluth, St. Lawrence University, and Clarkson University punched their tickets.
Abby Hustler, a top PWHL Draft prospect, scored a pair for St. Lawrence as they beat Penn State 4-1. They will face #2 Ohio State in the NCAA quarter-finals.
“We executed when we needed to and really held it down in the third period when we needed to kill off some penalties,” said Hustler. “Everything’s clicking for us right now and we’re just trying to have as much fun as possible.”
Minnesota-Duluth faced the NEWHA champions Sacred Heart in their opening round game. Minnesota-Duluth won 6-1 with Danielle Burgen and Olivia Mobley each scoring a pair of goals to lead the way. The Bulldogs are set to play Cornell in the quarter-finals.
“I think we played amazing today,” said UMD captain Clara Van Wieren. “We’ve been talking all season about just peaking at the right moments and we’re trending upwards right now. We were having so much fun on the bench, we were having so much fun in the locker room. We’re having a great time with our lines. I think the vibes are really high right now and they’re really high going into Saturday night.”
The final opening round game saw Clarkson hold off Boston University 3-1. Anne Cherkowski had a goal and an assist for the Clarkson women’s hockey team. Boston University mounted a late comeback pulling the score to 2-1, but Clarkson found the empty net.
Clarkson will face the tournament’s #1 seed, the University of Wisconsin. The other quarter-final will see #4 Minnesota face off against #5 Colgate.
All of the games will take place March 15 before the tournament moves to Ridder Arena in Minneapolis for the NCAA women’s hockey Frozen Four.
