They’re back.
The women’s hockey team advanced to its second consecutive Frozen Four in dominating fashion on Saturday afternoon, crushing ECAC foe Dartmouth, 7-1, in front of the home crowd at Lynah Rink. The quarterfinal game was a rematch of the ECAC Championship game from a week prior, in which the Red also came out on top, 3-0.
Junior forwards Catherine White and Chelsea Karpenko led the way for the Red with three points each. Senior forward and assistant captain Karlee Overguard, junior forward and assistant captain Rebecca Johnston, sophomore defenseman Laura Fortino and freshman forward Brianne Jenner all added two points apiece, while junior goaltender Amanda Mazzotta recorded 20 saves in the victory.
The first period was marked by solid back-and-forth play, with both teams exchanging odd-man rushes, applying heavy pressure on the starting goaltenders. Finally, with the Red short-handed, Jenner broke free after a face-off and raced down the length of the ice, beating Green goaltender Lindsay Holdcroft to open the scoring, 1-0.
“I just pressured the ‘D’ right off the draw and got lucky. They put it on my tape and I just buried it on the breakaway,” Jenner said. “I thought it was a good momentum changer for us.”
The Green, however, would not let the power play go to complete waste, responding a minute and half later to tie the game at one. Forward Camille Dumais had the lone goal for the Green, with assists from Margaux Sharp and Geneva Kliman.
Any added confidence that the Green enjoyed was quickly washed away just 29 seconds later, when junior forward Kendice Ogilvie took a pass from Overguard and beat Holdcroft to put the Red back up by one. From there Cornell never looked back, scoring two goals in the second period and three more in the third to cruise to the victory in front of a delighted crowd.
“[Ogilvie’s goal] was really important,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “We got that penalty-kill goal, which got the momentum going for us, and then we take a penalty; we’re not a team that likes to give up power-play goals, I think that deflated us a little bit. For [Ogilvie] to come out and get that goal quickly right after that, I thought was huge.”
Despite gaining such a large lead over the Green, the Red never lost focus on the task at hand.
“They recognized the importance of this game, and I don’t think they have any difficulty focusing at this point in the season, even when they have a lead like that,” Derraugh said.
Now the Red is off to take care of last year’s unfinished business. While the majority of this year’s squad was also on last season’s Frozen Four team, for some it will be a whole new experience.
“[The Frozen Four] is an unbelievable experience,” White said. “I know I can speak on behalf of the other players that were there; the atmosphere is like none other. I know everybody is super stoked to be there again, and of course for the freshmen, being their first time, I know it’s really exciting for them as well.”
Original Author: Ware Cady