It’s a busy hockey weekend on the East Hill as both the men’s and women’s teams will both be home for the first time this season. The women are coming off a weekend split at Maine last weekend, in which both contests went to overtime. The Red (2-14-1, 0-7-1 ECAC) will be looking for its first conference win of the season, as it faces No. 8 Princeton (12-6-2, 5-3-0 ECAC) tomorrow and Yale (6-13-2, 2-6-0 ECAC) on Sunday.
“We’re excited to be back and playing ECAC games. It’s a big weekend for us, we need to chalk up some points and look at the playoff picture. We played Princeton and Yale the very first games of the season, and all three teams have changed a bit,” said head coach Melody Davidson. “We’re excited to be home and having the [men’s team] home at the same time. We haven’t been able to watch them play this year, so we’re excited on all fronts.”
Last weekend’s games against Maine went down to the wire, as both Cornell and Maine gave up the lead in the last seconds of regulation. The Black Bears managed the comeback on Friday, scoring with 14 seconds left in the third period, and pulling out the win in the extra stanza.
On Saturday it was the Red scoring the game-tying goal with 14 seconds left, and winning the game on freshman Jen Munhofen’s breakaway goal.
Senior Sanya Sandahl started both games in net last weekend, making a combined 56 saves and earning her first win of the season. For her efforts, Sandahl was named ECAC Goaltender of the Week, the Red’s first player this season to net an ECAC weekly award. Last weekend’s win was also the first time that the icers scored three goals in one game, and the team will look to increase its offensive production this weekend.
“We’ve had tons of scoring chances, but we just haven’t been able to finish. Being able to score consistently [against Maine] was a big step for us, and I think we’ll be able to put that in to play every weekend as we go through the rest of the season,” commented Davidson.
The Red faced Princeton in the second game of the season, and the Tigers came away with a 6-0 win. Angela Gooldy netted a hat trick, as the Red was outshot 40 to 18. Princeton has won four of its last six games, beating Vermont 4-0 last Friday before falling to No. 4 Dartmouth by the same score.
Princeton has eight players who have more than 10 points this season, with senior Andrea Kilbourne leading the team with 19 points, and senior Gretchen Anderson scoring a team-high 10 goals.
Junior Megan Van Beusekom has started the majority of the team’s games in net, and boasts three shutouts and a save percentage of .921. Senior Sarah Ahlquist and freshman Roxanne Gaudiel have posted impressive stats in limited action this season.
In the first game of the season for the Red, Yale scored two goals in the third period to come away with the 3-1 win. Sophomore Maryann Nowak netted her first collegiate goal in the loss. The Bulldogs defeated the same teams last weekend as its travel partner, losing to Dartmouth 8-0 on Friday, and then blanking Vermont 3-0 the following night.
Three of Yale’s top six scorers are freshmen, as freshman Natalie Babony leads the team with 23 points and a team-high 14 assists, and also leads the team in penalty minutes with 30. Classmate Sarah Love has spent the most time between the pipes this season, with a GAA of 3.03 and a save percentage of .912.
The Red’s freshmen accounted for two of the team’s four goals last weekend. Freshman Caitlin Warren netted the Red’s only goal in Friday’s contest and assisted on sophomore Pearle Nerenberg’s game-tying goal in the waning seconds of the game on Saturday. Munhofen assisted on senior Lindsay Murao’s power play goal in the first period of Saturday’s contest, then put home the game winner in overtime on a breakaway. Munhofen now leads the Red in scoring with three goals and five assists.
“I think the freshmen class is really solid. They’re good character kids and they have good skills from player one to player seven. We’re happy with what they’re contributing and they’re getting a nice mix for us in the dressing room,” said Davidson.
After this weekend, the icers play six straight ECAC games to wrap up the regular season. Currently, the Red is tied for 8th in the conference standings with Vermont, so the team needs a conference win to secure one of the eight ECAC playoff spots.
Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach