The women’s hockey team walked away with a tie against UVM this Friday, after out-shooting the Catamounts 33 to 21. The Red dominated for most of the match, but the lady icers simply could not find the back of the net to break the 1-1 tie.
“We’re disappointed with the tie,” said Cornell head coach Melody Davidson, “but we’re happy we got one by [Vermont goalie Tiffany Hayes].”
Catamount freshman Lindsey Tilbury scored the first and only Vermont goal at 11:52 of the first period.
“[Senior goaltender Liz Connelly] is an outstanding goaltender, and she knows what it takes,” said Davidson. “She would love to have that first goal back.”
It was late in the first period when the Red seemed to completely turn around its play. The end of the first was characterized by Cornell dominating consistently in the offensive zone. Through hard work along the boards and behind the net, the Red produced repeated offensive chances that were only stymied by the Catamounts last line of defense, Tiffany Hayes.
In the second period, Vermont again appeared to be a few steps behind Cornell. The Red drew two penalties on plays where Vermont was struggling to keep up, but was unable to capitalize on either. In one situation, Cornell actually drew a tripping penalty off what would have been a two on one breakaway.
Finally, at 17:48 of the second period, the Red struck gold. Senior captain Brooke Bestwick took a wide open slap shot from the point that was deflected in by junior forward Anita Khar. The Red outshot the Catamounts 15 to two overall in the second.
The third period was slow paced, with Vermont icing the puck whenever possible to try and preserve the tie. However, any chance of winning in regulation truly disappeared when, at 19:20 of the third, Khar was called for interference.
The Red spent the next forty seconds and the first minute and twenty seconds into overtime killing off the penalty. This did not leave them much time, although Cornell was able to make a valiant effort to break the tie in the last minute. Hayes came through again, however, and the game remained 1-1 at the close.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a failure,” said Davidson. “You know, you go into every hockey game wanting to win but I think we made some good strides. We still haven’t put sixty minutes of hockey together, so we’re going to keep on working.”
Archived article by Michael Pandolfini