MADISON, Wis. — Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey came into the NCAA Tournament with one mantra in mind.

“Surge to State College.”

The first step in that push? Defeating NEWHA Champion Franklin Pierce in the opening round of Regional play. 

Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey did just that, defeating Franklin Pierce 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals Thursday evening, setting the Bobcats up for a bout in the regional championship with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

On paper, the Bobcats seemed to be a shoo-in for victory against the Ravens. Quinnipiac’s resources and facilities lap that of Franklin Pierce. Even though the two programs have never met head-to-head, Quinnipiac has history on its side with the rest of NEWHA, with a perfect 31-0 record against the conference coming into the evening’s contest. 

However, even with the resounding evidence pointing to a Bobcat victory, nothing in college hockey is a foregone conclusion.

“Any opponent playing in the tournament is a battle,” graduate student forward Laurence Frenette said. “We knew we weren’t going to be a walk in the park today.”

In fact, the final score of 4-0 doesn’t truly capture the kind of battle the Bobcats fought through to reach the regional championships. 

The primary reason the Bobcats had to battle for the win?

Franklin Pierce senior goaltender Jill Hertl. 

Hertl came into the contest as one of the best goaltenders in the nation, winning NEWHA Goalie of the Year and remaining top 10 in the nation in goals against average, save percentage and wins, despite playing in one of the highest shot count conferences in college hockey. 

Even before the contest, the Quinnipiac prepared a game plan for if the Highland Park, Ill., native was infallible. 

“We went through a couple scenarios,” head coach Cass Turner said. “What if we don’t score in the first two periods, even into the third period because she’s that type of goaltender that when she’s on, she’s on.”

In the opening period, that scouting of Hertl appeared spot on. Once the puck dropped, the Bobcats dominated Franklin Pierce in the early stages of the game. Quinnipiac peppered 19 shots on goal in the opening frame, passing circles around a very slow-starting Ravens’ unit. 

The Bobcats took advantage of the slow start, with top-line forwards junior Kahlen Lamarche and senior Emerson Jarvis both springing breakaways. 

In any other game, the Bobcats would’ve been up at least a couple goals at the intermission. Against Hertl, the offense was stopped in its tracks. 

“I kind of prepared myself like any other game, because I feel like in our league, like the volume of shots are always pretty high compared to other leagues,” Hertl said. “I kind of knew they were gonna put shots up…because they wanted to get on us.”

Despite the shots on goal increasing steadily as the period progressed, especially with the amount of offensive zone time for Quinnipiac, the lack of execution was still difficult. 

“It’s always a little frustrating,” Frenette said. “We knew that eventually we were going to get it.”

Besides the standout play from Hertl, the other aspect of this game that kept the score tight was the penalties. 

Franklin Pierce is known to play on the chippy side, averaging over eight penalty minutes a game. Once both teams began to settle in, the Ravens began to bring that identity into the game. 

Although initially the refs swallowed their whistles, the Bobcats would give the Ravens multiple chances to regain momentum with the man-advantage. 

As the chippiness continued to mount, Quinnipiac seemed to find a blip in Hertl’s perfect armor. Even though the goal would later be reversed for offsides, senior defenseman Zoe Uens would throw a puck on net from center ice and beat Hertl for the first time all game on a shot never meant to hit the back of the net. 

After that, the floodgates seemingly opened for Quinnipiac. Jarvis, who has been utilizing her speed and puck handling to embarrass opponents all season, would finally break through after multiple quality attempts at punching the puck in. 

After dangling the puck around two Franklin Pierce defenders, Jarvis would sneak the shot five-hole with less than five minutes remaining in the period to break the scoreless tie. 

“It’s nice to finish one of those,” Jarvis said. “It’s just going so fast, and you’re hoping in the moment (to score). Got a little lucky.”

After 35 minutes of the Bobcats having no answer to Hertl, Quinnipiac was able to strike again. This time it was sophomore forward Bryn Prier with Lamarche, coming in down the wing. After finding Lamarche, Prier found herself in the crease. 

When Lamarche missed, the puck careened off the side of Prier’s skate and into the net, securing a 2-0 lead for the Bobcats into the second intermission.

Despite the best efforts from the NEWHA Goalie of the Year, Franklin Pierce couldn’t seem to get back into the game. Offensively, the Bobcats were swarming, and if there was ever a misstep — a mishandled puck, an offline pass, a miscalculated rebound — Quinnipiac sophomore goaltender Felicia Frank was right where she needed to be. 

“To have that much trust in your goalie, it’s huge for the team,” Jarvis said. “Her skill is just amazing, and it’s fun to watch.”

Frank’s 29-save performance powered the Bobcats to the victory, earning her 10th shutout of the season as well as breaking the single-season saves record for the program (986). 

Another goal on the breakaway from freshman forwards Peyton Cormier and Ella Johnson, with just under half of the third remaining, would further put the game out of reach, before the dagger came just under three minutes later. 

A turnover in the slot would spring Frenette, who didn’t hesitate to score five-hole on Hertl to put the game firmly out of reach for Franklin Pierce. 

“It means a lot to be able to help our team,” Frenette said. “Every game we’re striving to be on the scoresheet, but sometimes just doing the little details, that’s all our team needs in that moment.”

Those little details are going to be crucial in the Bobcats’ regional championship matchup against No. 2 University of Wisconsin. The home squad poses a tough challenge for the Bobcats come Saturday. 

Puck-drop in Madison, Wisc. is set for 2 p.m. EST.