Though featuring some strong defensive play and solid goaltending, the women’s hockey team (3-13-2, 3-11-1 ECACHL) could not overcome their continuing offensive woes, as it fell to St. Lawrence and Clarkson by identical 2-0 scores this weekend.
The pair of shutouts extended the Red’s winless streak to fourteen games, while also leaving it scoreless in its last 190:00 minutes of play.
Nevertheless, despite its inability to pick up some crucial goals, the Cornell squad did continue to look strong against top-notch competition. In Friday night’s game against the No. 5 Saints, the Red — behind some impressive goaltending from sophomore Beth Baronick — stayed within one goal for much of the contest.
“Beth was phenomenal,” said senior captain Jamie Ramenofsky. “We just couldn’t get the puck in the net.”
St. Lawrence got on the board early, taking advantage of a Cornell penalty, as Emilie Berlinguette netted her ninth goal of the year.
From there on out, however, the Red shut-down the high-powered Saint’s offense, which had been averaging over five goals a game in its previous seven, until the last three minutes of the game. At that point, Rebecca Russell notched her 21st goal of the season to complete the scoring.
In the end, Baronick collected 44 saves for Cornell before leaving the game late in the third period after taking a slap shot to her sternum. Junior Flora Vineberg replaced Baronick, making one save while allowing Russell’s goal.
At the other end of the ice, St. Lawrence netminder Jess Moffat played solid as well, turning away all of Cornell’s 12 shots.
“Besides their two power play goals, I think we played very well,” Ramenofsky said. Against Clarkson, Cornell again faced an early deficit, as the Golden Knights took a 1-0 lead on Beth Beezer’s goal less than five minutes into the game. The Red’s defense responded, maintaining the lone goal deficit through the end of the first period.
The Knights would not be contained in the second period, however, as Melissa Marshall extended the lead to 2-0. From there on out, the defenses took over for both teams, as Clarkson held on for the victory.
After getting the start, Vineberg stopped 24 shots, while Clarkson goalie Kira McDonald earned the shutout, saving all 22 of the Red’s attempts.
“[Flora] was amazing,” said Ramenofsky. “We just suffered from our play in the first period. It was our biggest weakness on the weekend. If we played the entire game as we did in the second and third periods, we’d probably end up on top.”
With few games remaining on its schedule, the Red will have to hustle if wants a chance to make the ECACHL playoffs. Currently, Cornell sits just out of the postseason picture, two points behind the eighth-place Knights in the conference standings.
Nevertheless, Ramenofsky has faith that the team can string together some wins and reach the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
“I have high expectations for this team,” said the captain. “I believe in this team and I expect to win a few of these games down the stretch.”
Archived article by Scott Reich
Sun Staff Writer