In ECAC action, the Cornell women’s ice hockey team lost both games this weekend on the road bringing its record to 2-4 overall. On Friday night the Red traveled to the University of Maine (4-3 overall, 2-3 ECAC) losing 3-1, then turned around and headed to New Hampshire (7-2 overall, 4-2 ECAC) where it dropped a crushing 8-1 decision.
In Friday night’s game, although outshooting Maine 26-22, the Red was unable to pull out the win. Maine set the tone early, getting on the board first when Karen Droog beat Cornell sophomore Sanya Sandahl 8:46 into the first period.
Continuing on its scoring run, Jarin Sjogren found the back of the net for Maine’s final goal of the first period. After a scoreless second period, Raffi Wolf added the finisher at 15:56 into the third, beating sophomore goalkeeper Liz Connelly.
This game marked Connelly’s return to the ice after receiving a concussion in the second game of the year against Niagara.
Despite being down, the Red would not leave scoreless. Sophomore Briana Jentner, off assists from juniors Jenel Bode and Erinn Perushek, recorded the Red’s lone goal at 17:47 in the third.
In 20 minutes of play Sandahl recorded three saves while Connelly totaled 40 minutes and 16 saves.
Adding insult to injury, literally, senior Co-Captain Danielle Bilodeau suffered a concussion against Maine that would force her to leave the game and miss the following night’s competition. However Bilodeau believes she will be back on the ice in a few days, ready to play in next weekend’s games.
To close its weekend road trip, the Red traveled to the Whittemore Center to take on the University of New Hampshire. In 32 meetings, the Red has only beaten the Wildcats once. Continuing on its winning tradition, New Hampshire crushed Cornell, 8-1.
Cornell hoped to use this overwhelming record to its advantage, but it seemed that even words of wisdom could not help the Red.
“We gave them too much respect,” commented Bilodeau.
This increased respect led to loose defense, with Cornell giving New Hampshire a lot of room to skate.
However, it was Cornell that opened up the scoring. Senior Erica Olson netted her first goal of the season at 15:01 of the opening period off an assist from sophomore Brooke Bestwick. Despite its strong start, the Red’s momentum was not to last.
With just 28 seconds remaining in the period, Wildcat Kristine Butt beat Connelly who was in net for the Red to tie the game and close out the period.
Then the New Hampshire ice show began. Kristin Thomas scored the second goal 9:18 into the second period and the Wildcats added four more before intermission. To finish the night, New Hampshire added two more in the final period.
Sophomore Kristin Perry played her first minutes in a Cornell jersey in the third period replacing Connelly in goal. Connelly left the game with 28 saves while Perry allowed only two goals and made 11 saves.
Of the weekend Bilodeau said, “Every game is mental, we have just as much talent if not more than these [ECAC] teams. It comes down to confidence and execution. We just didn’t have the mentality to execute.”
The Red will have to execute when it takes to the road again and travels to number one-seeded Dartmouth on Friday and then heads to Boston College the following night.
Archived article by Kristen Haunss