The women’s hockey team received an offensive outpouring this weekend as it traveled to Schenectady, N.Y., for a two-game series at Union. The Red defeated Union 5-1 on Saturday and 5-2 yesterday, blasting Union goaltender Alex Zirbel with more than 100 shots over the course of the weekend.
The two league wins are invaluable at this point in the season for the Red (8-14-0, 4-12-0 ECACHL), as it fights for a conference playoff birth. With the two losses, the Dutchwomen fall to 3-18-1, 0-14-0 ECACHL.
Cornell came out of the lockeroom firing on Saturday afternoon, putting up 20 shots in the first period, resulting in three goals. The Red’s first score came in just two minutes in when sophomore forward Sarah Johnston netted her second goal of the season. Senior defenseman Becky Fisher and sophomore forward Miranda Callaghan were credited with assists.
Halfway through the first stanza, sophomore forward Brianne Schmidt received a pass behind the net from classmate Caeleigh Beerworth, came around and forced it into the goal for a 2-0 lead. Less than five minutes later, the Red extended its lead to three when senior assistant captain Jen Munhofen recorded her first goal of the season with a deflected shot off of Zirbel’s stick. Freshman defenseman Lindsey Moschet got her first collegiate point with an assist on the play.
After a scoreless second period, Cornell extended its lead to four when Beerworth scored her sixth goal of the season just 38 seconds in to the final period. Union ended Cornell’s shutout bid at the 13:50 mark when Dale Chaput gathered up a rebound in front of the net and fired the puck in for a power-play goal. The Red would regain its four-goal lead less than two minutes later as Callaghan scored her third of the season.
On Sunday, Cornell picked up right where they left off the day before. In the fourth minute of the game, senior forward Caitlin Warren picked up her first goal of the season to put the Red up by one. Less than three minutes later, Johnston received a pass from Callaghan and converted on a breakaway opportunity to put the Red up by two.
Johnston would score again at the 3:49 mark in the second period when she knocked in a shot by Fisher that had skirted the goal line. Less than two minutes later, junior forward Caroline Scott would extend the Red’s lead to four. Scott beat the goaltender to a loose puck and scored on the open net for her first goal of the season. Union would register its first goal of the game at the 13:20 mark with a short-handed goal by Suzy Pocock.
The Red regained a four-goal lead just 54 seconds into the third period when junior forward Halina Kristalyn scored her ninth goal of the season. After junior Beth Baronick was pulled from goal in favor of junior Sarah McConnachie with about 10 minutes left in the third, Union scored one more time off of a rebounded shot to make the final score 5-2.
Baronick made 19 saves on the day and McConnachie added three more as Cornell out-shot Union 58-24, including a 30-6 advantage in the second period.
Archived article by Jon Hausner
Sun Staff Writer