The Cornell women’s hockey team came away from the weekend with four points as the Red defeated both Brown and Yale at home, continuing double-digit unbeaten streaks against both teams.
The last time the Red (5-2-0, 3-2-0 ECAC) lost to the Bears was in 2007. This weekend also marks 16 games undefeated against the Bulldogs.
Head coach Doug Derraugh said he believes that this weekend was a confidence booster for a team that came out last weekend with a couple of tough losses against RPI and Colgate.
“I think [this weekend] helped our young team to realize that we can find ways to win in the third period,” Derraugh said. “That was important after losing a couple of tough games late in the third [period].”
Senior forward Hanna Bunton recorded a hat trick and sophomore goaltender Marlene Boissonnault recorded a shutout on Friday to help the Red get past the Bears 4-0.
The game got off to a slow start, as both teams only combined for nine shots in the first period. The second period was also scoreless, but Cornell picked up the pace, outshooting Brown 13-4 in the period.
Cornell came out quickly in the third period and scored just over two minutes into the frame off the stick of Bunton for her first goal of the season. Just seven minutes later, Bunton came back charging down the ice for her second goal of the game, assisted by sophomore co-captain Micah Hart.
Despite being up 2-0, the Red kept its foot on the pedal — the team ended up outshooting the Bears 31-14 when the final buzzer rang. The Red scored its third goal of the game when faced with a six-on-three situation due to two Cornell penalties and Brown’s goalie pulled.
Bunton would later complete her hat trick at the 19:11 mark of the final period after another assist from Hart.
“We just brought it more in the third period,” Boissonnault said. “The first two periods were a bit of a slow start — not our best work — but in the third period after talking in the dressing room, we became more consistent in our plays which successfully gave us a great score at the end.”
On Saturday, three different players for the Red scored their first goals of the season to help the Red skate past Yale 4-2. In Saturday’s contest, Cornell came out with a fast start, as Sophomore Diana Buckley scored just under five minutes into the first period. And six minutes later, Gerace scored a goal of her own to give the Red a 2-0 lead just over halfway through the first frame.
The Bulldogs drew the score to within one after a goal five minutes after Gerace’s. Yale then tied the game 2-2 in the second period, capitalizing on a power-play opportunity.
Freshman forward Grace Graham notched her first career goal at the 17:42 mark of the second, a goal that ended up being the eventual game-winner. Graham’s classmate and fellow forward Kristin O’Neill continued her early-season rampage and added an insurance goal just 33 seconds into the third period to put the Red up 4-2, her sixth of the season.
The Bulldogs came into Saturday’s contest averaging 4.14 goals a game, proving Cornell’s strong focus on defense had paid off by holding Yale to two goals. It was only Yale’s third time of the season being held to two goals or less.
“Since the start of the season our team has had a goal to be one of the best defensive teams in the NCAA,” Gerace said. “We knew that Yale was very offensive, and we stayed strong defensively and were able to limit their scoring opportunities. Our defenseman and goaltending was solid in both games.”
The women will travel to Quinnipiac and Princeton this coming weekend to face off against two teams that sandwich Cornell in the ECAC standings at fifth place.