On Friday night, the No. 2 Red (22-1-1, 16-0-1 ECAC Hockey) went on the road to take on the Clarkson Golden Knights (11-13-4, 8-6-2). After a month long campaign of dominating victories, the women’s hockey team ended its 18-game winning streak by earning a tie, 3-3.
Cornell started the game off with junior forward Chelsea Karpenko scoring late into the first period; however, the Red’s lead did not last long, with Clarkson scoring two goals three-quarters of the way into the second period.
After putting together a spotless regular season, the Red was very surprised to find itself down in the third period, according to head coach Doug Derraugh ’91.
“I think that they were a little surprised and we’ve had a season where we’ve been up a lot going into the third period and you have to continue to play your game,” he said. “So they went into the third period and continued to play the game.”
The third period was another opportunity for Cornell — an opportunity to come back and show the crowd it was deserving of college hockey’s No. 2 ranking.
“Obviously we were concerned but at the same time we had a great second period and we felt if we stuck to the gameplan it would work out. It was good,” Karpenko said.
Clarkson scored again after 11 minutes of play to go up, 3-1, but the Red was not ready to give up yet. With less than four minutes left in regulation play, junior forward Catherine White started Cornell’s comeback with a goal assisted by Karpenko. This was just the motivation the Red needed, as seconds later White scored again with another assist by Karpenko, tying the score at 3-3 with only 1:50 left to play.
Going into overtime, the Red tallied two shots against Clarkson, but in the end was unable to find an opening. Even though the contest ended in a tie, playing against Clarkson provided a learning opportunity for Cornell.
“We learned from the Clarkson game that we can’t be complacent,” White said. “For the first two periods, Clarkson wanted it more than us. It wasn’t until the end of the second and into the third that we started waking up. Basically, we had to want it more than the other team.”
Though its momentum slowed a bit Friday, the Red managed to pick up steam after the tie against Clarkson in its next game the following night against St. Lawrence.
“I think that the end of the game helped them going into the next game even though we were down we kept believing in ourselves,” Derraugh said. “It helped carry over into Saturday’s game. We knew [St. Lawrence] was going to be a tough game and I think it was good we had a big challenge Friday night to prepare us for Saturday.”
Original Author: Lauren Ritter