No. 9 Cornell women’s ice hockey returned to Lynah to continue its in-conference schedule and overcame St. Lawrence and handedly defeated ranked-rival Clarkson.
The Red (5-1-0, 3-1-0 ECAC) faced St. Lawrence (6-5-0, 2-1-0 ECAC) on Friday. Cornell fell behind quite early, as the Saints put up a goal just 27 seconds into the game. Not too long after, freshman forward Mckenna Van Gelder scored back-to-back goals to give the Red its first lead. Riding on the momentum, senior forward Gillis Frechette tacked on to Cornell’s tally to give the Red a 3-1 lead. The Saints, however, cut short the momentum with a goal in the dying seconds of the first.
Just 47 seconds into the second, the Saints struck again, tying the game at 3-3. Penalties highlighted the second period as the next four goals scored were power-play goals, two by each team.
Going into the third period, the score was tied at 5-5. St. Lawrence broke first to get a 6-5 lead. Frechette, Cornell’s scoring leader, was assessed a major penalty that resulted in a five-minute power-play for the Saints. That did not seem to defer the Red as junior forward Izzy Daniel and sophomore forward Lily Delianedis both scored shorthanded goals to give Cornell the lead and secure the 7-6 win.
Although a win, it was a pretty scrappy game with both teams switching off with the lead.
“We got off to a bad start with them scoring in the first minute,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91.
“It just seemed to open up and both [Cornell and St. Lawrence] were, I would say, playing kind of reckless, I don’t think either coaching staff was happy with the game”.
After getting off to a bad start against the Saints, Cornell looked to start strong and focus on the defensive side of the game on Saturday against Clarkson (10-3-1, 2-2-0 ECAC).
And they did — the Red came out aggressively, keeping the puck primarily in the Golden Knights zone. Just 40 seconds into the game, freshman forward Georgia Schiff scored and less than 30 seconds later, junior defenseman Ashley Messier doubled Cornell’s tally.
After an unfortunate turnover, right in front of the Cornell net, the Golden Knights took advantage and scored. There were some good looks for both teams, however, they both held strong defensively for the rest of the period.
Right at the start of the second frame, the Golden Knights were assessed a five minute major penalty after freshman forward Caroline Chan went down after contact to the head. With the man advantage, the Red finally broke through at the very end. With 18 seconds remaining on the power play, Van Gelder scored to give Cornell the 3-1 lead. The Red went on to score four more unanswered goals in the second, to put Cornell ahead, 7-1.
Senior defenseman Paige Kenyon scored with seven minutes remaining in the third to give Cornell the 8-1 victory.
“I thought we did a much better job today,” Derraugh said.
It was an all-around team effort, but specifically, the spotlight can be on the top line trio of Frechette, Daniel and Delianedis who combined for 12 points. Frechette and Daniel, who serve as two of the three captains, along with sophomore Delianedis have become an unstoppable force both on and off the ice, especially on a very freshman/sophomore-heavy roster.
“Their chemistry is unreal. And you know they’re also hardworking, team-oriented, the right kind of people,” Derraugh said. “When you have those kinds of players leading your program and a young player comes in, they learn pretty quickly what it means to be a Cornell women’s hockey player.”
With the two weekend wins, the Red now remains undefeated at home this season.
Cornell looks to continue the momentum when it heads to Hanover to face Dartmouth (1-4-0 ECAC) on Friday at 6 p.m and then faces Harvard (1-3-2 ECAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Boston. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
These are two tough road teams that the Red has struggled against in the past, especially playing against the Crimson at home in Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
“We had a rough start there last year… both teams are really scrappy and play hard, so you’ve got to bring the same intensity that we have here at Lynah and bring that on the road with us,” Derraugh said.