SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - Junior Sophie Matsoukas made 34 saves in the Union women's hockey contest against #14 Yale Saturday afternoon, but an offensive onslaught from the Bulldogs in the first period that resulted in 23 shots powered them to a 4-0 win.
 
Matsoukas's 34 saves would be her most in almost a month, when she also rejected 34 in Union's win January 5th at Penn State. The junior made a handful of challenging saves to keep Union in the game, facing a number of quality opportunities that she consistently denied. The number also ties the junior's career-high against the Bulldogs, when she denied the same number in her second ever meeting with Yale February 8th, 2022.
 
Yale broke open the scoring just shy of eight minutes into the game. Taking advantage of a Union turnover in their own end, Mariya Rauf found Emma Harvey towards the middle of the ice to give the Bulldogs the first lead of the afternoon.
 
After the two teams each registered their first two shots on goal in the game in the first two minutes, Yale recorded the next 16 on net and 22 attempts overall, emphasized by the game's first two power plays that saw the visitors put seven shots on net. Junior goalie Sophie Matsoukas stood tall to the challenges she faced in the opening 20 minutes, rejecting 22 shots in the first period to keep Union's deficit at one heading into the first intermission.
 
Even though Union recorded more shots in the second than Yale, it was the Bulldogs who were the only ones to find the back of the net. After Matsoukas made a couple of impressive saves on shots that came from close range, the rebound bounced to Carina DiAntonio, who fired off a shot just before Matsoukas could reposition herself and provided the Bulldogs a two goal lead.
 
Union battled Yale for much of the final period, but wouldn't be able to solve Yale goalie Pia Dukaric. A pair of empty netters in the final 32.8 seconds from Jordan Ray and Claire Sedgewick shut the door on Union's comeback hopes.
 
Union's offense was led by senior Emily King and sophomore Riley Walsh, with the two combining for 10 of Union's 16 shots on the afternoon. Yale registered a final 38-16 shots advantage.
 
Neither team cashed in on their power play opportunities, as Yale went 0-for-3 and Union went 0-for-4.
 
Union will now prepare for their final road trip of the regular season, when they head to Colgate and Cornell next weekend. They begin the weekend set with a battle against the Raiders on Friday at 6:00 PM.