Love was in the air on Saturday for Valentine’s Day. Love was also on the ice at Yale’s Ingalls Rink in New Haven.
Sarah Love that is, Yale’s sophomore goaltender, who posted 36 saves against the Red stickwomen to record her fifth shutout of the season.
The win was a historic one for Yale, as the Bulldogs set a school record with six conference victories and is now just two wins shy of tying a school record for victories in a season with 12, a feat that was accomplished in the 1985-86 season. It was the Bulldogs’ third win in a row, and boosted them to 10-11-3 overall and 6-7-0 in ECAC play.
As good as it is going for Yale is about as poor as things have been for the Red, which have lost four games in a row, being outscored 18-3 over that stretch. Cornell now finds itself in ninth place in the division. This means that if the ECAC playoffs started today, the Red would not be participating.
Cornell switched places in the standings with Vermont this weekend, after the Catamounts swept a weekend series with a Union squad that is winless in ECAC play.
Despite that fact, the team is focusing on the positives.
“I think we played well overall this weekend,” said junior Maryann Nowak. “We just didn’t capitalize on our chances.”
The chances were plentiful against the Bulldogs, as the Red opened the contest with the first nine shots of the game. Yet Love stopped all nine — as well as the Red’s next 25 shots — to shut the Red out for the second time this season.
Sophomore Flora Vineberg made 32 saves for the Red, including 16 in the second period.
Freshman Beth Baronick started for the Red in Friday’s game against No. 8 Princeton, and was tested early and often. Baronick ended the game with 37 saves on 41 Tiger shots.
The Red’s lone goal of the weekend was scored within the first four minutes of the game, as Nowak gave Cornell a quick 1-0 lead. Nowak scored the goal by deflecting a shot from classmate Lara Kelly, who earned her second assist of the season on the play.
Unfortunately for the Red, the team could not sustain its advantage and ultimately fell to the Tigers, 4-1, at Baker Rink. The Tigers improved to 15-6-0, and 8-4-0 in ECAC play, which is good for fourth place in the division.
Despite being outshot by a 41-14 margin, the Red nearly opened up a 2-0 lead on a sophomore Vicki Hodkinson’s blast in the first period. Yet Princeton’s senior goalie Megan Van Beusekom, who is currently third in the ECAC in goals against average, made a diving stop, for one of her 14 saves on the evening.
With the losses over the weekend, the Red dropped to 4-17-1 overall and 1-13-0 in ECAC play. The Red will take on Findlay in two non-conference games next weekend at Lynah Rink, before traveling to Union College to take on the cellar-dwellars of the ECAC in two weeks.
Archived article by Chris Mascaro