With four games remaining, the Big Red women’s ice hockey team (6-13-1 ECAC, 9-15-1 overall) is in a must-win situation to keep its playoff hopes alive.
The squad travels to Canton, NY to face St. Lawrence (14-4-2 ECAC, 18-6-3 overall) on Saturday and Sunday.
Currently, the Saints are ranked third in the ECAC, while the Red sits in the eleventh hole.
Cornell must win its last four games in order to have any chance at earning the eighth playoff spot.
Right now, Niagara currently holds that last playoff opening with 20 points.
The Red, with 13 points, needs four wins and eight points in order to leapfrog Princeton, Maine, and Niagara. Of course, this is assuming losses by all three of those teams, so the outlook for the Red is grim.
St. Lawrence enters the weeend on a roll, having won four of its five last contests, but the Saints are far from invincible.
Just last weekend, before the Black Bears of Maine appeared in Lynah Rink, they upset St. Lawrence on its own rink.
The Big Red needs the same type of result, only two times over.
Although Cornell was not the victor, last weekend’s matches against UNH and Maine proved that the Red can skate with anyone.
There were some costly mistakes, but both games ended with only a one-goal differential, and the team played very well.
By not gaining any points last weekend, the Red has dug itself a hole, but being in a must-win situation ought to provide an extra spark of motivation for back-to-back games against a difficult opponent.
The Red recently received one bit of good news from the injury front.
After sitting out for two weekends with a concussion, junior defenseman Eva Nahorniak will return to the ice against the Saints.
Her presence will certainly help the squad, which has been plagued with injuries all season.
Archived article by Kelli Larsen