By April 3, 2006
The women’s lacrosse team traveled to New Jersey on Saturday afternoon to battle Princeton with first place in the conference on the line. Despite jumping out to an early 4-1 lead, the No. 12 Red could not hold on, as it fell to the No. 8 Tigers, 10-6. The loss is the 19th straight for Cornell (6-2, 2-1 Ivy) against Princeton (4-4, 2-0), a perennial Ivy League powerhouse.
The Red came out of the gate firing, jumping out to an early, 2-0, lead on goals by sophomores Katherine Simmons and Noelle Dowd.
Kathleen Miller would cut the Tiger’s deficit in half, however, with the first of her three goals on the night coming off a free position shot. But over the course of the next 10 minutes, the Red would add to its lead. Sophomore Courtney Farrell scored her 19th goal of the season, and then five minutes later, junior tri-captain Margaux Viola notched her 22nd tally, converting on a feed from Simmons.
“We played very well in the first 20 minutes of the game and looked really sharp,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86. “Then Princeton started to slowly and steadily creep back into the game. It was very frustrating for us when we continued to shoot the ball, but weren’t able to score.”
Princeton would score three goals in the final five minutes of the half to tie the score at four heading into the intermission.
Picking up where it left off before halftime, Princeton scored the game’s next three goals to pull ahead, 7-4. Sophomore Charlotte Schmidlapp scored her second goal of the season with about 10 minutes remaining in the game, ending a 32-minute scoring drought for the Red. Cornell would not get any closer, as Princeton scored three consecutive goals to seal the game.
With 26 seconds left in the game, Simmons recorded her second goal of the game and her 17th of the season to close out the scoring. Simmons was the only Cornell player to record a multi-point game, while Katie Lewis-Lamonica paced Princeton with four points on two goals and two assists.
Cornell controlled play for much of the game, particularly in the first half. The Red out-shot the Tigers, 33-19, and held the turnover advantage, giving up the ball just 19 times compared to 28 Princeton turnovers. However, the primary difference was efficiency, as just 13 of Cornell’s 33 shots were on goal, compared to 17-of-19 by Princeton.
Cornell senior goalie Maggie Fava had seven saves on the day, including five in the first half, while sophomore Amanda Linnertz recorded seven ground balls.
“We didn’t really play as a unit in the second half. We got desperate and out of sorts,” Graap said. “This week we really need to focus on the team and mental side of the game, come together on offense, and not let this happen again.”
By April 3, 2006
After being the last line of the men’s hockey team’s defense for the past three years, Cornell junior goaltender David McKee penned a two-year free agent entry-level contract with the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Mighty Ducks last week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Over the past two seasons, David McKee has proven to be one of the premier players at the collegiate level,” said Mighty Ducks Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Burke in a statement. “He is a great addition to the core of young talented players within our organization.”
McKee, who was in Anaheim this past weekend with the Ducks, was unavailable for comment. According to the Los Angeles Times, McKee will start as Anaheim’s third goaltender behind Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Ilya Bryzgalov, though he will likely only see live action in practice.
“I talked to other teams and this was definitely the best opportunity and the best offer,” McKee told the Times. “[Anaheim] made me feel wanted.”
Reports have indicated that four other organizations were in the running to sign McKee, including his hometown team, the Dallas Stars. According the Cornell head coach Mike Schafer ’86, no matter what team McKee ended up with, he had an inclination during this past season that his goaltender would head up to the professional ranks and forgo his senior year.
“We’re very happy for David. Obviously, it was his dream and goal for him to play for professional hockey,” Schafer said. “It’s a great day for him.”
Schafer could not comment on specific recruits due to NCAA regulations, but he did say that because his coaching staff had an idea that McKee would probably leave Ithaca after his junior year, it gave them extra time to seek out potential replacements.
One individual who will be in the mix is Troy Davenport, who again committed to playing at Cornell in late February. Davenport was part of the team as a freshman during the Red’s 2004-05 season, serving as a substitute in one game, but went back to play junior hockey in the USHL with Des Moines. Currently, freshman Dan DiLeo is Cornell’s only returning netminder.
Whatever the case may be, Schafer has a huge gap to fill. McKee is the second Cornell goaltender to leave school early for the NHL in three years, with David LeNeveu ’05 deciding to forgo his last two years of college eligibility to sign a contract with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2003. Schafer has one potential solution.
“When David LeNeveu left, we were very fortunate to land David McKee. Maybe we should recruit more kids named David,” Schafer quipped.
McKee, a native of Irving, Texas, will be the first player born and raised in the Lone Star state to play in the NHL. He recorded a 2.08 goals against average and a .910 save percentage this season. However, he is best known for his sophomore campaign when he was a Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist after posting a program record-setting .947 save percentage and a 1.24 GAA. McKee has also set Cornell records for consecutive and overall games played and shutouts.
“How are you going to replace David McKee in the sense of statistics when you have one of the most successful seasons ever at Cornell and in college hockey?” Schafer said. “He’s re-written a lot of record books for the goaltender position at Cornell.”
Because of his stellar performance during his sophomore year, there was a lot of interest from NHL teams who were racing to sign McKee. However, he decided to stay at East Hill for another season while focusing completely on the Red’s drive for a national title. This was especially something that Schafer and his coaching staff were grateful for.
“We’re very fortunate he came back. I think that he didn’t have anything to prove statistically, but he wanted to grow as a goaltender and I think that he did,” Schafer said.
“To give him a lot of credit, he stayed in the present