WNo. 5 Yale vs. No. 1 Ohio State
NCAA FROZEN FOUR SEMIFINAL
Friday, March 18 - 7 p.m. 
Pegula Ice Arena - University Park, Pa.

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FROZEN FOUR CENTRAL
YALE GAME NOTES (PDF)
TICKETS

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In a season full of firsts, bests and unique accomplishments, the No. 5 seed Yale Women's Hockey Team (26-8-1) made its initial appearance in an NCAA Tournament a memorable one, winning the quarterfinal at Hamilton, N.Y., last Saturday to earn a trip to the 2022 Frozen Four. The best squad in the 44-year history of the program has its greatest challenge of the season with a 7 p.m. national semifinal this Friday against No. 1 Ohio State (30-6-0) at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa.

FROZEN FOUR
It's East vs. West (or Midwest) in both semifinals at Penn State with two from the WCHA, one from ECAC Hockey and another from Hockey East. The 3:30 p.m. Friday game pits No. 3 Northeastern (31-4-2), the 2021 NCAA runner-up, against five-time national champion Minnesota-Duluth (26-11-1). The winners play Sunday at 4 p.m. The semifinals air live on ESPN+, while the finale is on ESPNU.
 
BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs, who have a program-best 26-8-1 record and were second in the ECAC standings, are coming off a 2-1 OT win in the March 12 NCAA Quarterfinal at Colgate. Senior forward Tess Dettling's put-back (14^th of year) from the low slot 2:05 into the extra frame was the difference. Rookie blueliner Vita Poniatovskaia had the other Yale tally, while senior Gianna Meloni made 28 saves and added to her program record for wins (16) in a season. Sophomore Elle Hartje set up the first goal and now has a school-record 35 assists and 51 points, the second highest total for a Bulldog. Junior forward Claire Dalton picked up a helper on the winner and moved to within one assist of the school career record.
 
YALE FUN FACTS
Worldly: Yale has seven countries, including the US and Canada, on its roster. Austria, Germany, Russia, Slovenia and Sweden are the others.
Class of 2022: The seniors went from 18 wins (8th and 9th place finishes) combined over their first two seasons to 43 wins (5th, 2nd) over last two seasons (not years).
Youth Impact: Yale had eight first-year skaters (26 goals) and one rookie goalie (10 wins) on the line sheet in the NCAA Quarters.
High-Scoring Class: The juniors have the most goals with 54, led by Emma Seitz (14), Claire Dalton (13), Charlotte Welch (13) and Rebecca Vanstone (12).

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Head Coach Mark Bolding - "We are very excited to still be left standing as there are a lot of great college programs that would love this opportunity. We are thrilled that we're here; lots of hard work has gone into this season. Sometimes programs take a while to get going and I'm really happy with where we are at, especially for our older players who have just turned the tables coming in here. Yale is a tough place to be a student-athlete in that it never slows down on the academic side but our players came here for the full experience and we are excited to continue this journey with them."

Captain Greta Skarzynski - "The change in our program really started with Coach Bolding coming in and setting the tone for the new culture and make it a winning culture. He has inspired us to believe in ourselves and set the new standard for what being a Yale women's ice hockey student-athlete is all about."

Emma Seitz - "These are all experiences I thought I would never have a student-athlete so I am just trying to live in the moment. I'm really proud of what we have done as a team. The seniors and juniors and obviously Coach Bolding and the assistant coaches have really built a program from the ground up and that is an experience I cannot even put into words."

 
BUCKEYES
Ohio State, which brings an eight-game win streak to the Frozen Four, won the WCHA Championship by beating Minnesota, 3-2 in OT and then going two extra frames in a 4-3 NCAA Quarterfinal victory over Quinnipiac. The Buckeyes, who outshoot opponents on average this year 42-21, had an astonishing 77-22 advantage on the Bobcats last Saturday. They have the most prolific offense in the nation with a 4.72 goal average, 170 goals and a .370 power play.  They are not too shabby at the other end, ranking fifth in Division I for scoring defense (1.53).
 
HISTORY
Yale and OSU have met twice with the Buckeyes taking both one-goal games during the 2004-05 season at Columbus.