No. 6 Cornell downed No. 8 Colgate, 4-2, at Lynah Rink on Saturday after defeating the Raiders by the same score on the road on Friday.
The Red (13-2-5, 11-2-1 ECAC) picked up four points this weekend as it swept the Raiders (14-8-4, 8-4-2 ECAC) in the teams’ home-and-home series.
Sophomore forward Maddie Mills put the Red on the board just eight minutes into the first period with her 13th goal of the season.
But it was senior forward Lenka Serdar led the way for Cornell, lighting the lamp shorthanded 14 minutes into the first period on a feed from junior defender Micah Zandee-Hart. Sendar then scored again in the second period; the goals were Serdar’s seventh and eighth of the season.
Serdar’s second goal came at a critical time for the Red. Although Cornell had dominated Colgate in the first period — holding the Raiders to just two shots on goal all period and killing all of the Raiders’ power plays — Colgate’s Jessie Eldridge scored twice in the second period to tie the game.
But Cornell responded to the Raiders’ extra push, scoring twice in 58 seconds later in the middle period to regain the lead for good.
After the Red scored two power play goals in Friday’s win, Serdar capitalized on a power play opportunity to put the Red back in the lead with 5:58 left late in the second on Saturday.
“Our special teams play was huge in determining the outcomes of both games,” Serdar said. “We capitalized by scoring on the power play in both games and our penalty killing was solid. It will be important to continue to focus on special teams play if we want to have success going forward.”
Less than a minute after Serdar’s second goal, she passed the puck to sophomore defender Kendra Nealey who fired a shot that found the back of the net after deflecting off of junior forward Paige Lewis. Lewis’s fifth tally of the season put the game out of reach for the reigning national runner-up Raiders — a scoreless third period sealed the Cornell victory.
Senior netminder Marlène Boissonnault was again critical to the victory, tallying 19 saves on the day after keeping Cornell in Friday’s game long enough for the Red to score two late goals and emerge victorious.
“We were able to capitalize on our chances in transition,” Serdar said. “Both games were fast-paced and playing aggressively seemed to work well for us.”
The Red has a quick turnaround — it will be back in action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it heads to Syracuse to take on the Orange (6-17-2, 6-5-1 CHA). Cornell dismantled Syracuse, 4-1, in their last meeting on October 23.
“Looking forward to Syracuse, we will be focusing on refining the habits and details in the defensive zone that will lead to good offense,” Serdar said.