November 15, 2002

W. Icers Open Home Slate With Dartmouth, Vermont

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The women’s hockey team will play its home opener tonight against ECAC rival Vermont (2-8, 0-3 ECAC) at Lynah Rink at 7 p.m. Tomorrow, the Red (0-2, 0-2) will face off against No. 4 Dartmouth (3-1, 2-1) for an afternoon game at 4 p.m. Last season, the Red took both games from the Catamounts, but dropped its two contests against Dartmouth.

The icers are coming off two losses against Ivy foes Yale and Princeton. On Friday, the Red got on the board early against Yale, as sophomore Maryann Nowak recorded her first collegiate goal at 8:37 in the first period on a feed from freshman Jen Munhofen. Yale would tie the game on a power-play goal at 13:13 in the first period. The game remained tied through the second period, with the Bulldogs gaining the lead at 9:41 in the third period. Yale would strike again with just over two minutes remaining in the game to seal the victory at 3-1. The Red outshot the Elis 36-22 on the night.

On Saturday, the Red faced a tougher Princeton squad, but were able to keep the game close going into the final frame only down by two. The Tigers extended their lead with four unanswered goals in the third period to clinch the 6-0 victory. Angela Gooldy recorded a hat trick and an assist, while senior goalie Liz Connelly stopped 34 shots for the Red.

“I expect the team to play hard and battle for 60 minutes. We need to find the back of the net this weekend,” commented head coach Melody Davidson. “We had some good scoring opportunities last week, and we need to capitalize on our scoring chances this weekend.”

The icers will go up against a Vermont squad that already has 10 games under its belt. Last weekend, the Catamounts were shut out at home against No. 3 Harvard and No. 6 Brown. The Crimson dismantled Vermont on Friday 13-0, outshooting the Catamounts 52 to 8. Julie Chu and Nicole Corriero each scored a hat trick, while Jennifer Botterill recorded a goal and seven assists. Vermont goalie Tiffany Hayes lasted only five and half minutes before she was pulled after allowing four goals. On Saturday against Brown, Hayes had a big turnaround, as she stopped all 52 shots she faced after Kami Cote was pulled after allowing three goals in the first 14 minutes of the game. Vermont recently recorded its first win against a Division I school since moving up from Division III after the 2000-2001 season.

Dartmouth will welcome the return of Gillian Apps, Cherie Piper, and Meagan Walton, who played for Team Canada in the Four Nations Cup held in Kitchener, Ontario last week. Canada beat Team USA in the gold medal game 4-2, after sweeping Sweden, Finland, and the U.S. in round-robin play. Dana Antal, who played two seasons at Cornell, was also on Canada’s roster.

The Big Green came away with a 3-1 victory over Brown on Friday. Krista Dornfried scored a shorthanded goal at 14:42 in the second period, which would prove to be the gamewinner, while Amy Ferguson stopped 34 shots in goal. On Saturday against Harvard, Dartmouth posted the first goal of the game at 7:28 in the first period. The Crimson then went on to score six unanswered goals on the way to a 9-2 victory.

Dartmouth will be the second nationally-ranked opponent that the Red has faced this year, with five teams from the ECAC ranked in the top 10 of the USA Today poll.

“We’ve already played Princeton, who was nationally ranked. We played them very well for 45 minutes, and we need to have a good 60-minute effort against Dartmouth,” remarked Davidson. “The team has to maintain game intensity and game focus.”

The Red will hit the road again next weekend for two crucial Ivy and ECAC games, as it travels to Providence on Friday to face off against Brown, before heading to Cambridge on Saturday to take on Harvard.

Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach