ITHACA, N.Y. – Claire Dalton called game in overtime as the No. 2/1 Yale women's hockey team took down No. 14 Cornell, 3-2, on Saturday, Feb. 11. The win clinched Yale's first Ivy League Championship in program history. The Bulldogs improved to 24-2-1 overall and 17-2-1 in the ECAC, while the Big Red fell to 13-12-2 overall and 10-9-1 in the conference.
 
"As one of the oldest women's college hockey programs in the nation, this is a huge deal for our team, and all of the Yale alumnae that have come before this group," said Mark Bolding, Susan Cavanagh Head Coach of Women's Hockey. "Winning our first Ivy League Championship is very special and will be cherished for a long time. We are proud of the progress and strides that this team continues to make. This is just step one. There are more big games coming up and we are excited to finish out the regular season at home and then shift our focus to playoffs."

Scoring Summary

• P1, 13:46 | Yale struck first more than halfway through the first period. Sylvia Bojarski's attempt to dump it into the zone led to the puck ricocheting off a Cornell player and landing at the stick of Vita Poniatovskaia. Poniatovskaia veered towards the right heading into the zone and sailed a shot towards net that went in bottom left.
• P1, 17:09 | Cornell found its way onto the scoresheet to tie it.
• P2, 7:03 | The Big Red found the back of the net and took a one-goal lead.
• P2, 17:26 | Yale netted the equalizer as Elle Hartje found Charlotte Welch on the goal line. Welch spun away from goal and flicked a backhander that Claire Dalton tipped between the legs of the Cornell netminder and in.
• OT, 00:28 | Dalton took a pass down low from Emma Seitz and charged towards goal, powering her way around a Cornell defender to the front of the net and slotted it five-hole for the overtime game-winner.

 

DID WE SAY CAPTAIN CLUTCH OR DID WE SAY CAPTAIN CLUTCHHHHHHHH! ?? pic.twitter.com/h4l4OvwChm

— Yale Women's Hockey (@YaleWHockey) February 11, 2023

 
Notes

• This was Yale's first-ever Ivy League Championship in program history. 
• Pia Dukaric came up big for the Bulldogs in keep moments and logged 22 saves in the victory. 
• Claire Dalton netted her 10th career game-winning goal and the fifth of the season.
• Elle Hartje extended her point streak to 13 games with assists on both of Dalton's goals.
• Hartje nabbed her 11th multi-point game this season.
• Emma Seitz is riding a five-game point streak.

Looking Ahead
Yale will cap the regular season at home next weekend when they host Dartmouth and Harvard on Feb. 17-18. The outcome of those two games will not impact the Bulldogs' reign as the 2023 Ivy League Champions as they have secured the title outright. Following next weekend's games at home, the Bulldogs will begin ECAC Hockey postseason play on Feb. 24-26. Yale is currently first in the ECAC Hockey standings.