Coming off an impressive road sweep of Yale (RV) and No. 15 Brown, No. 10 women’s hockey returns to Lynah Rink this weekend looking to move to 4-0 in Ivy League play. Bolstering the Red, sophomore forward and 2023-2024 second team All-Ivy and ECAC All-Rookie honoree Karel Prefontaine is set to return from an injury and rejoin a team that has struggled at times to find the back of the net.
“We haven’t been real proficient in scoring, or at least the offensive side of our game so far,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91.
On paper, the Red (4-3-1, 3-1-0 ECAC) are set up well to correct its offensive struggles, since this weekend’s opponents have been struggling defensively. Cornell will take on Harvard Friday night, then face Dartmouth the next day.
Though Harvard (2-5-0, 1-5-0 ECAC) comes into the weekend with a losing record and a minus-eight goal differential, The Crimson’s two wins came against the University of Connecticut and Yale, who ranked eighth and 14th respectively when Harvard beat them.
“They’re kind of an enigma right now,” Derraugh said. “They’ve had some really strong games and then they’ve had some weaker games. And so it makes you a little uneasy as to what you’re going to get from them.”
The Crimson finished last season dead last in the ECAC standings with a 3-18-1 conference record under then first-year head coach Laura Bellamy. Bellamy was hired after the retirement of previous head coach Katey Stone in the summer of 2023, after The Boston Globe and The Athletic published stories alleging abusive behavior on the part of Stone and hazing inside the program.
While an investigation by Harvard found no evidence that the former Crimson coach fostered a hazing culture, the saga and eventual retirement of Stone — who has the most wins as a female women’s college hockey coach and is suing Harvard for sex discrimination— shook both Harvard’s women’s hockey program and the greater hockey world.
Bellamy’s staff includes former Cornell volunteer assistant coach Meredith Roth, who Derraugh spoke highly of.
“She’s been coaching for a long time, very knowledgeable, very passionate about the game,” Derraugh said. “Laura Bellamy was a goaltender at Harvard, went right into coaching right after her graduation and has been coaching for a long time as well now, and has had a lot of great experiences and a lot of success. I think it’s just a matter of time before they get things rolling there.”
Dartmouth (0-8-0, 0-6-0 ECAC) comes into the weekend still searching for its first win of the season. When the two teams met at Lynah last season, the Red scored 14 goals thanks in part to hat tricks from Prefontaine and senior forward Kaitlin Jockims.
Despite the mediocre records of Harvard and Dartmouth, the Red will need to be careful not to overlook this weekend’s matchups. In its home opener, Cornell was upset by Union, the Garnet Chargers’ first-ever win at Lynah Rink.
“I think with our team, we understand now — especially after the last couple of weekends — that there’s no longer a weekend or a team that you are going to walk in and win the game,” Derraugh said. “You have to be ready for everybody now.”
Returning alongside Prefontaine — whose injury Derraugh declined to divulge the details of — is senior defender Rory Guilday. Guilday missed the Yale and Brown games while playing for Team USA in the Rivalry Series. The two skaters have combined to miss six games so far this season for Cornell.
The puck is set to drop at 6 p.m. Friday night for Cornell’s matchup with Harvard, and 3 p.m. the next day for the game against Dartmouth. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.