The women’s ice hockey team (9-13-1, 6-11-1 ECAC) performed well over a critical weekend as it defeated Northeastern (13-10-1, 10-7-1 ECAC) and fell to Providence (16-9-3, 8-7-3 ECAC) — two of the top-10 squads in the nation.
Journeying to Boston to take on a tough No. 8 Northeastern team, the Big Red was hungry to avenge the 4-0 loss it suffered to the Huskies earlier in the season. Cornell did just that.
Northeastern jumped on the scoreboard in the middle of the opening period when Brooke Whitney snuck a shorthanded goal past Red keeper Sanya Sandahl.
Although the Red outshot the Huskies 17-4 in the first twenty minutes, it was unable to match Northeastern’s goal.
Bouncing back early in the second stanza, Cornell tied it up 1-1 when senior forward Erica Olson deflected sophomore forward Lindsay Murao’s shot past the Huskies’ goalkeeper. Olson currently leads the team in scoring with eleven goals and ten assists, while Murao is close behind with eight goals and eleven assists.
This was an important goal for the Red because it was the first of two power play goals that the team scored on the day. The special teams have been a focus of improvement for the Red and it was an indication of the team’s hard work.
The remaining minutes of the second period were marred by penalties. A total of six penalties were handed out, three for each team.
All the excitement came at the end. Cornell took the lead at the 1:52 mark when Murao found the net, with assists from Olson and junior forward Sarah Olivier. Northeastern was relentless and scored the equalizer about nine minutes later.
After a checking penalty was called on Northeastern’s Jennifer Santerre, the Red capitalized on the man-advantage with less than five minutes left in the game. Senior co-captain Dani Bilodeau netted the game winner with an assist from freshman forward Bri Jentner and this was the final goal of the game. Cornell’s defense stonewalled Northeastern for the final minutes of the game, including the final 35 seconds, which they played shorthanded.
The next day at Providence was a different story for the Red. Cornell’s offense pulled off 26 shots while the Friars only shot 19 times on goal, but the Red just couldn’t get the job done as it lost by a 4-1 margin.
In the first period, the Friars scored two unassisted goals and they added another early in the middle stanza.
At 4:22 in the second, junior assistant captain Jenel Bode lit the lamp with assists from Bilodeau and sophomore defenseman Brooke Bestwick.
Bode’s goal wasn’t enough however, and the Friars had the last say with a goal in the last five minutes of play.
The Red is back in action at Lynah Rink next weekend as it faces ECAC opponents UNH and Maine.
Archived article by Kelli Larsen