The Red women’s ice hockey team (7-11-1, 5-10-1 ECAC) split its league matches at home this weekend, beating Boston College (5-19-0, 1-16-0 ECAC), 5-3 and falling to Dartmouth (16-1-1, 14-1-1 ECAC), 4-0.
The Eagles skated onto the ice prepared to redeem themselves after a harrowing 6-0 loss to the Red earlier in the season, and they showed that they were not to be taken for granted. The first half of the opening period was action-packed as both teams handled the puck very well.
After senior forward Erica Olson was put in the penalty box, Boston College took advantage of the man down and scored at 9:18.
The Red wouldn’t allow the BC lead standing for long. At 17:13 in the first period, junior forward Erinn Perushek fed senior co-captain Trish Kemp the puck to tie the game.
After the break, the Eagles came at Cornell hard and scored in the early minutes to take a 2-1 advantage. This second deficit awoke the Red’s offense, as they netted three consecutive goals to take a seemingly commanding 4-2 lead into the second intermission.
Sophomore forward Lindsay Murao picked up the equalizer on Olson’s rebound at 5:21, while her classmate Brooke Bestwick tallied an assist on the play.
Junior assistant captain Jenel Bode scored next with assists from Murao and junior forward Sarah Olivier to put the Red up 3-2.
With time winding down in the second period, Murao and Olson executed a nearly perfect two-on-one with Olson knocking the puck past a sprawling goalie. Bestwick picked up her second assist of the game with the breakout pass.
Boston College made the game close for a while with a power play goal at 2:27 in the third stanza, but Erica Olson’s second goal of the game cemented the victory for the Red, just minutes after a failed penalty shot by the Eagles.
Sunday’s showing was not as spectacular. Although Cornell performed better in its second matchup against Dartmouth this season, the results were the same. The Green outshot the Red 38-19 to complete the shutout victory.
Cornell was frustrated with Sunday’s match because of missed chances.
“We didn’t shoot enough against Dartmouth, and that’s what hurt us. Defensively, we found ourselves running around, and it was frustrating because we had worked on it all week,” Bode said of her team’s showing.
“We’re playing consistently, but we’re just not stepping it up to beat the teams we need to beat. We could have won today, but we’re just not finishing,” junior defenseman Dianna Bell commented.
Bell added of her team’s defensive effort: “We’ve definitely come a long way since the beginning of the year, but there’s much room for improvement. We’re playing better man-to-man, but we need to be better at cutting off the passing lane.”
The Red is looking forward to next weekend’s nonconference matches in Minnesota in order to prepare for the remaining ECAC games.
Archived article by Kelli Larsen