PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Yale women's ice hockey team is heating up at an opportune time, as the Bulldogs notched their fourth win in a row Saturday afternoon by beating Brown 6-3. With just three weekends left in the regular season, Yale's winning streak has moved the Bulldogs into position to earn a berth in the ECAC Hockey tournament -- and possibly even get home-ice advantage.

It did not take long for Yale (9-13-1, 8-7-1 ECAC Hockey) to take control of the game. Just 71 seconds in junior forward Phoebe Staenz slid a pass to sophomore defenseman Mallory Souliotis while falling to the ice. Souliotis sent it towards the net, where senior forward Janelle Ferrara redirected it in.

Brown goalie Julianne Landry came up with a big save to deny sophomore forward Emily Monaghan on a breakaway midway through the first. But shortly thereafter the Bulldogs extended their lead to 2-0 on another goal by Ferrara, this one after a puck bounced directly to her in the right circle and she sniped one top shelf on Landry at 12:27. That was her team-leading 10th goal of the season -- and her fourth in five games. Senior defenseman Kate Martini and freshman forward Jordan Chancellor assisted on the play.

It took the Bulldogs nearly four minutes to get their first shot on goal of the second period -- but when they got it, it counted. Sophomore forward Courtney Pensavalle centered the puck for freshman forward Emma Vlasic, who touched it over to freshman defenseman Julia Yetman. She walked in and beat Landry thanks to a spectacular deke, backhanding in her third goal of the season.

A power play gave Yale the chance to control the puck in Brown's zone for several moments midway through the second, and that eventually led to another goal when Ferrara found a wide-open junior forward Krista Yip-Chuck at the top of the right circle and she sent one past Landry's right shoulder at 8:30 to make it 4-0. Souliotis earned an assist on the play, giving her a team-best 18 for the year. That's the second-best assist total by a Bulldog in the last eight seasons, trailing only Ferrara's total (19) from last year.

A Yale turnover on a Brown power play enabled the Bears to get a goal at 11:01 of the second, as forward Maddie Woo beat Mandl -- Woo's second goal of the weekend.

Yale's fifth goal came on a power play at 5:33 of the third. After a beautiful setup by sophomore forward Eden Murray enabled Pensavalle to send one on net, the puck trickled behind Landry and towards the goal line. A Brown player momentarily saved a goal by knocking the puck away -- but it went right to Yetman, who had a wide-open net to shoot at.

Junior forward Hanna Åström made it 6-1 at the 8:58 mark, also on a power play. She was wide open right in front of the crease when Murray sent the puck to her after picking it up from Staenz in the corner.

Brown (3-18-2, 1-13-2 ECAC Hockey) got a goal from forward Bridget Carey at 14:32 to make the score 6-2. The Bears then scored again on a power play at 15:12, as Woo knocked in a rebound, but that proved to be too little, too late.

Mandl finished with 27 saves, while Landry made 22.

The two points in the standings give Yale 17 for the year; entering play Saturday just four teams in the conference had more points than that. The top four teams in the standings host ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series.

Yale, which ends the regular season with four of the final six games on the road, plays at Dartmouth this coming Friday.

Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity