BURLINGTON, Vt. - Kailey Nash and Chelsea Rapin scored third period goals as Vermont came from behind to tie Connecticut 2-2 in Hockey East action at Gutterson Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon.
The Huskies opened the scoring 14:21 in the first period on the power play. At the point UConn defenseman Maude Blain fed a pass to Kayla Campero who was alone in the slot. Campero one-timed a shot past Vermont goaltender Roxanne Douville for her second goal of the weekend series. Campero's tally was Connecticut's 10th power play goal of the season.
Campero struck again in the second period to push the Huskies lead to 2-0. With Connecticut on the power play Campero sent a seemingly harmless wrist shot towards the net from the point. With traffic in front Douville never saw the shot and it found its way to the back of the net. Over the course of the weekend Campero scored three of Connecticut's four goals.
After getting outshot 15-4 in the second period Vermont came out strong in the final frame. 42 seconds into the third Rapin took advantage of an UConn miscue and broke in alone on Alexandra Garcia. Rapin put a quick shot past Garcia under her arm blocker side to pull the Catamounts within one.
Trailing by one the Catamounts pulled Douville for an extra-attacker with 1:15 left in the third period. Vermont cycled the puck in the UConn zone to Nash at the point. With traffic in front she fired a low wrist shot towards the net. Her shot deflected off an UConn defenseman and past Garcia at the one-minute mark.
For the second time over the weekend Vermont and Connecticut were headed to overtime. Vermont had a 53 second power play in the extra frame but neither team was able to break the tie.
Douville made 31 saves for Vermont earning her fifth tie of the season. For Connecticut senior goaltender Garcia made 26 saves.
"Pretty huge comeback for us, with playoff implications, it was a huge third period and we really responded when we had to respond," said Head Coach Tim Bothwell. "We are looking forward to the second half and battling right down to the wire and trying to nail down a playoff spot for ourselves."
With the tie Vermont moves to 3-10-6 overall and 2-6-2 in Hockey East. Connecticut improves to 3-12-4 and 2-5-2 in league play.
Vermont will be idle for nearly a month as they take the ice again for a non-conference tilt at Dartmouth on January 3, 2012.
NOTES: Connecticut wins the season series against Vermont with a record of 1-0-2 ... Vermont has 37 goals this season, they had just 44 all of last season ... Vermont improved to 1-5-6 at home this season ... The Catamounts are undefeated in their last three games, Roxanne Douville has given up four goals over that span.