This weekend, the women’s ice hockey team split a pair of road conference games, defeating Brown on Friday night, 5-1, and losing to Yale on Saturday afternoon, 5-0.
Cornell (9-10-1, 6-7-1 ECAC Hockey) defeated Brown (3-14-4, 2-9-3) for just its second victory in its last seven games.
“I thought we played one of our best games from goaltending to defense to offense,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “As far as the team effort goes, it was probably one of our best games so far. We got balanced scoring, all the lines were contributing, the defense was moving the puck well and our goaltender was coming up with saves when we needed them.”
Senior co-captain Brittany Forgues launched the first Cornell goal at 9:10 in the first period, scoring on the power play. It was her fourth goal of the season.
Fellow senior co-captain Caeleigh Beerworth tapped in the Red’s second goal twenty-nine seconds into the second period.
“There was a rush down the ice off a neutral zone turnover,” Beerworth said. “And then there was a two-on-one, and instead of passing I chose to shoot because I had a better angle on the goalie.”
A mere 19 seconds later, freshman Rebecca Johnston scored her 10th goal of the season to stake the Red to a 3-0 advantage.
“We were working deep in the corner and then the puck got to front of the net,” Johnston said. “There was a shot that rebounded. So I got the puck and shot from the hash marks. I thought we really pressured them hard, especially in their end. We made them cough up the puck a lot, so we got a lot of opportunities from that.
Sophomore forward Nicole Brown recorded the only goal of the game for the Bears at the 7:58 mark in the second period, making it a 3-1 game.
Cornell tightened its defense for the rest of the game and scored an insurance goal with less than a minute left in regulation when sophomore forward Laura Danforth scored off a pass from Beerworth.
Freshman forward Karlee Overguard netted the fifth and final goal for the Red with less than a second left to play. It was her fifth goal of the season.
Freshman goaltender Katie Wilson blocked 25 shots to earn the win in her first collegiate start for Cornell. Junior goaltender Nicole Stock had 37 saves for Brown.
“[Wilson] came through for us,” Derraugh said. “We hadn’t given her many game opportunities yet, and I just felt like it was time to give her a chance.”
The Red outshot Brown 42-26 in the contest.
On Saturday afternoon, however, the Bulldogs (9-8-4, 6-6-2 ECAC Hockey) chewed apart the Cornell defense en route to a 5-0 victory.
“I thought we had a pretty decent first period,” Derraugh said. “We had a few opportunities and a breakaway. We had a few chances early on in the game, but they didn’t bounce our way. Then, they got a goal up on us and when we came out in the second period, I didn’t think we were as sharp. We made some defensive errors. Once they got that momentum, it was tough to come back.”
Yale freshman forward Lili Rudis recorded the first goal of the contest at 5:06 in the first period.
The Bulldogs tacked on a second goal at 2:05 in the second period when sophomore defenseman Alyssa Clarke slapped the puck past Cornell goaltender Katie Wilson. Following the score, Wilson was replaced by fellow freshman netminder Kayla Strong.
Yale lit the lamp three more times in the second period for a 5-0 advantage, which the Bulldogs protected for the rest of the game.
Johnston echoed her coach’s sentiments concerning the Red’s inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
“We just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Johnston said. “We outshot them and we had a lot of chances, but we just couldn’t finish. So, I think that’s what our problem was. Also, in the second period we let in a couple quick goals, so that gave them the momentum. Overall, I thought we played a good game, but we just have to finish pretty much.”
Sophomore goalie Jenny Niesluchowski played the third period in goal for Cornell, deflecting all 10 shots she faced. Wilson and Strong had 5 saves each. Freshman goaltender Jackee Snikeris earned the shutout for Yale recording 28 saves.
Cornell held a slim 28-25 advantage in shots for the contest.
“We definitely had our opportunities offensively,” Beerworth said. “We outshot them for the most part throughout the game. Basically, it was their goaltending. They had a very good goalie she was very strong. We just couldn’t seem to score.”