Cynthia Tseng/Sun Senior Photographer

Women's hockey won on the road before dropping its second game at home.

January 14, 2025

No. 6 Women’s Hockey Earns Weekend Split With No. 5 Colgate

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On Friday night in Hamilton, New York, No. 6 women’s hockey accomplished what last year’s team could not, knocking off the Raiders for the first time in nearly two years. The next day in Ithaca, the Red failed to pick up the weekend sweep, giving up three goals in the final period and snapping a twelve-game unbeaten streak.

Cornell’s (11-4-3, 8-2-2 ECAC) Friday night win over Colgate (18-6-0, 9-3-0 ECAC) — a dominant 2-1 performance — came thanks to a pair of goals from senior defender Rory Guilday and a stellar effort from Cornell’s penalty kill unit. 

The Red came ready to play in the Class of 1965 Arena, searching for its first win in Hamilton since 2020. Cornell dominated the first period, peppering Raider netminder Hannah Murphy with 21 shots while limiting Colgate’s offense — which entered the weekend third in the nation — to just five attempts on sophomore goaltender Annelies Bergmann. 

Early on, the Red’s aggressive forecheck stifled the Raiders and helped earn Cornell the afternoon’s first power play seven minutes into the opening period. Though the power play unit could not convert, Cornell maintained its momentum. 

Halfway through the period, a Guilday shot got through the legs of Colgate’s netminder Murphy, but trickled inches wide of the right post. The close call was an indication of what was to come. 

Finally, after multiple scoring chances throughout the period, the Red converted. With under three minutes to go, senior forward Gabbie Rud slipped a pass across the top of the crease to Guilday who knocked the puck off of Murphy and into the back of the net. The goal was the Cornell captain’s second of the season, her first since November.

The second period kicked off with the Red finishing up its first successful penalty kill before proceeding to squander its second power play opportunity of the afternoon.

Then, roughly a quarter of the way through the second period, Cornell doubled its lead in impressive fashion. The Red flawlessly executed a set play off a faceoff win, ending with senior forward Kaitlin Jockims saucing a pass across the ice to Guilday who rocketed a one-timer by Murphy. 

With the two-goal lead, a parade of Cornell penalties commenced. Junior forward Georgia Schiff, senior defender Ashley Messier and junior defender Alyssa Regalado each spent two minutes in the penalty box over a 10:00 span in the second period.

Arguably the scariest moment for the Red’s penalty kill came when junior defender Grace Dwyer decked star Colgate forward Kristýna Kaltounková, leading to a lengthy review and the possibility of a two-skater advantage. However, the referees elected not to penalize Dwyer and Cornell successfully killed all three Raider power plays in the period.  

The third period was much of the same, with more success for the Raiders. For the first time in the afternoon, Cornell did not dominate play at even strength and Colgate would end up outshooting the Red in the period 14-10. 

After the teams traded unsuccessful power plays, Colgate would get its lone goal of the game when Bergmann could not corral a rebounding puck. 

Cornell’s penalty kill would be summoned one last time and completed the perfect 6/6 game despite the Raiders pulling Murphy for a six-on-four advantage.

However, the Red’s dominant Friday play did not last long the next day in Ithaca. 

In sole control of the ECAC and looking for its first sweep of Colgate for the first time since before the pandemic, Cornell came out firing Saturday in front of a reported crowd of 1120. The Red drew an early (ultimately unsuccessful) power play and then came within inches of scoring off a rebounded shot after the penalty expired. 

Instead, it would be Colgate that struck first, taking its first lead of the weekend with under four minutes to go in the opening period. Cornell fought back but entered the first intermission trailing despite outshooting the Raiders. 

In the second period, the teams traded long periods of sustained pressure, which eventually led to the seventh Colgate power play of the weekend. The penalty was for hitting from behind and, for the second day in a row, a Cornell hit on Kaltounková was reviewed. Once again, the referees opted against a major penalty and the Red were tasked with just a two-minute penalty kill.

The ensuing penalty kill was an eventful one. The Raiders peppered Bergmann with shots and eventually had a golden chance with the Cornell netminder woefully out of position, but the puck bounced away from the Colgate stick. Moments later, the Raiders wrung the pipe on the Cornell goal, before senior forward Lily Delianedis nearly scored Cornell’s first shorthanded goal of the season. 

Eventually, the Cornell penalty kill could catch its breath after one of the most impressive defensive performances of the season. The Raiders entered the weekend scoring on 35 percent of its power plays and leading the nation in goals with a skater advantage for the third season in a row. While Cornell struggled last season defending against the Raider power play, this weekend was a different story. Colgate went 0/7, moving Cornell’s penalty kill into tenth in the nation.

As the second period wound down, the action heated up. With just under two minutes to go,  coinciding penalties led to two minutes of four-on-four play, where each team got a high percentage scoring chance. First, a Colgate breakaway was denied by Bergmann, keeping the Red within a goal. Under a minute later, Jockims fired a shot by a screened Murphy and into the Raider net, sending the Cornell bench and the Lynah Faithful into a fit of joy. 

Unfortunately for the Red, the momentum from the goal could not be converted into a lead. While the Red came out of the second intermission playing well, the Raiders would strike for a second time on a three-on-two rush just four minutes into the period. 

Cornell earned a penalty and a golden opportunity to tie the game but came up empty for the fifth time that weekend. Instead, Colgate would double its lead with under six minutes to go in the game. 

Freshman forward Lindzi Avar scored her seventh goal of the season — her first in almost two months — but a Raider open-net goal would crush any chance of a comeback. 

Cornell dropped game two of the home-and-home weekend, 4-2, despite outshooting the Raiders 37-25 and winning 61 percent of faceoffs. The Red fell to a tie with the Raiders for second in the ECAC in points, but Colgate holds the tiebreaker with nine conference wins to Cornell’s eight.   

Cornell will be back in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Syracuse to wrap up its out of conference play, before returning home to take on No. 13 Princeton and No. 10 Quinnipiac next weekend at Lynah Rink. Action against the Orange will be streamed live on FloSports, while the subsequent conference play will be broadcast on ESPN+.