Abby Hustler and Aly McLeod each had three points and Anna Segedi added a goal, as that line continued their strong play and powered the 10th-ranked St. Lawrence University Saints to a 4-2 win over the No. 14 Yale Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in New Haven, Connecticut.
 
The Hustler-McLeod-Segedi line made their impact immediately, capitalizing on the Saints' first shot of the game. From the defensive-zone, Segedi made a long outlet pass to McLeod. The left-handed shooter carried the puck down to the half-boards and passed back to Hustler in the slot, who tapped the pass to a cutting Segedi. The senior alternate captain went bar-down to beat Yale goaltender Pia Dukaric.
 
While St. Lawrence struck first, Yale controlled the pace of play in most of the first period. Saints' goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordström made a few key saves on Yale power-plays to preserve the lead, but the Bulldogs would beat her twice in the latter half of the period, both off rebounds, to grab the 2-1 lead.
 
Yale maintained major momentum after taking their first lead of the game, but the Saints responded quickly. McLeod corralled a clearance by a Yale defender and quickly fed Hustler, who was open backdoor. Hustler tipped the pass over Dukaric's shoulder to even the contest.
 
The teams were knotted at two after a busy first period.
 
The second period was comparatively very quiet for the first 13 minutes, until the Saints ramped up the offensive pressure on the Bulldogs. After multiple strong shifts, St. Lawrence grabbed the lead back, once again with the Hustler-McLeod-Segedi line. This time, Hustler and McLeod played give-and-go with Hustler finishing the beautiful passing play, beating a sliding Dukaric.
 
St. Lawrence led 3-2 after the middle frame, outshooting Yale 22-17.
 
The third period resumed the pace of play from the first period, and Yale had multiple strong shifts in their offensive-zone, but Nordström and the Saints defense held strong.
 
Late in the period, Yale pulled Dukaric for the extra-attacker, but they were never able to sustain pressure with the 6-on-5 advantage because of the Saints' forecheck. Julia Gosling would add an empty-net goal to seal the game for St. Lawrence
 
"Today was a great win for our team!" said head coach Chris Wells. "We had it handed to us pretty good in the first period, but we scored two key goals to keep it a game until we found our pace. Two important penalty kills at the end of the first and the beginning of the second set things up for us. Our second period might have been one of the better periods we have had all year. Especially after coming off the first where Yale dominated us."
 
In a clean game, the Bulldogs finished 0-2 on the power-play and the Saints were 0-1, but their potent power-play's only opportunity was with only 14 seconds remaining in the game.
 
Yale outshot SLU 32-28 in shots-on-goal and 56-37 in attempts. Nordström finished with 30 saves in the win, while Dukaric had 24 in the loss.
 
"Segedi, Hustler and Aly have been playing well the last few games and they scored a beauty to put us in the lead," added Wells. "Plenty of efforts to finish the game. Sterling, Jones, Hehl, Duscio and Jefferies had a great shift at the end when we were pinned in for a bit. We can enjoy this for a good bus ride home and then we will set our sights on next weekend!"
 
The Scarlet and Brown improved to 18-8-0 overall and 11-4-0 in ECAC play with the win, while Yale fell to 10-11-0 and 8-7-0.
 
Next weekend, the Route 11 Rivalry is finally here! The Saints first host Clarkson on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Appleton Arena, and then travel down Route 11 to Cheel Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. Six big ECAC points will be on the line between two of the top teams in the nation.