Cornell (3-0, 2-0 ECAC) capped off a successful opening weekend of ECAC play by handing Dartmouth (0-3, 0-3 ECAC) a lopsided 4-0 loss to remain undefeated.
The Red got off to a slow start with both teams struggling to score until junior captain and forward Kristin O’Neill scored 17:25 into the first period off of assists from junior forward Grace Graham and junior defender Devon Facchinato.
“We did not get off to the best start,” O’Neill said. “But once we scored a goal, our team took it to another level and we got some momentum, which led to a few more goals on the power play.”
Cornell really got rolling about 14 minutes into the second period when it scored three goals within two minutes — one of them being on a power play.
Junior defender Jamie Bourbonnais found the back of the net off of assists from O’Neill and junior defender and captain Micah Zandee-Hart. Zandee-Hart then scored a goal of her own on the power play off of assists from sophomore forward Maddie Mills and O’Neill.
Senior forward Pippy Gerace then put an exclamation point on Cornell’s victory, finding the back of the net off of an assist from sophomore defender Kendra Nealey.
Senior goaltender Marlene Boissonnault was also critical to the blowout of the Green. She tallied an impressive 23 saves between the pipes to record her first shutout of the season.
“What worked well for us against both Harvard and Dartmouth was playing with speed and being tenacious on the puck,” said senior forward Diana Buckley. “We had a few gritty goals this weekend from crashing the net which we need to carry throughout the rest of the season to have success.”
The Red will hit the road this weekend to kick off an eight-game stretch of away games.
“With eight road games coming up, we are going to have to be ‘road warriors’—battling hard, playing discipline, and getting pucks through to the net,” Buckley said.
O’Neill believes the time away from Lynah will only help solidify the team’s chemistry.
“We will definitely miss Lynah for the next month,” she said. “But we’re all really excited for the next eight road trip games. It helps our team bond and is a great opportunity gain momentum when we come back to Ithaca.”
Looking to keep their winning streak alive, the Red will play next this Friday in New Haven at 6 p.m. against Yale.