Two weeks after clinching the ECAC regular season title, No. 3 women’s hockey’s quest to win its fifth ECAC tournament started off strong. The Red defeated Union 3-0, despite a heroic 39-save effort from the Garnet Charger netminder.
“I think we played well,” said sophomore forward Karel Prefontaine. “We stuck to the game plan and I think we executed our plays well.”
Cornell’s postseason began Friday evening in front of 1,570 fans at Lynah Rink, where four months prior Union defeated Cornell 3-2 to open the Red’s conference play. The first period opened with Cornell heavily pressuring Union netminder Sophie Matsoukas. The senior was forced to make save after save early on, including on multiple Cornell numbers-up rushes.
The pressure was eventually relieved on Matsoukas when senior defender Ashley Messier was whistled for interference with 9:26 remaining in the first period. Union dominated possession of the puck in its offensive zone, but could not find the back of the net despite the skater advantage.
Just seven seconds after the first penalty expired, sophomore forward Delaney Fleming was sent to the penalty box for tripping. Cornell killed the penalty again, but the Garnet Chargers picked up its first shot on goal with five minutes to go in the period.
“Obviously we have got to do a better job staying out of the penalty box, but our penalty kill was really good,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “I thought they were more aggressive than we have been in the last couple games, which was a key to our success.”
After killing the second penalty, Cornell picked up right where it left off, regained control of play and eventually broke through. After a series of shots on Union’s goaltender, Fleming stole the puck from a Garnet Charger defender attempting to clear the defensive zone and flicked a pass to Prefontaine. Prefontaine fired a wrist shot that rocketed passed Matsoukas’s blocker to give Cornell the lead with 1:22 remaining in the period.
“[Fleming] set me up for it pretty well,” Prefontaine said. “I just like going high glove, so I just went for it today.”
Just as in much of the first period, Cornell dominated play in the second but was stymied by an impenetrable Matsoukas. 1:30 into the period middle frame, Cornell fired three shots on Union’s net in a matter of seconds, but Matsoukas responded each time, culminating in a seemingly impossible glove-save robbery.
Cornell tallied an impressive 18 shots on goal in the second period, but none got past the Union netminder. On the other side of the Ice, the Garnet Chargers did not register a shot on goal until midway through the period, although the visitors found momentum late in the period.
With 8:12 remaining in the middle period, sophomore goaltender Annelies Bergmann made her best save of the game when a loose puck was picked up by a Union skater and flicked on net from just in front of Bergmann’s crease. Two minutes later, a high Union shot found the crossbar before ricocheting safely into the netting. Then, Karianne Engelbert — who tallied both goals for Union in its 2-0 win over Brown in the first round of the ECAC playoffs — skated around a Cornell defender and fired a hard shot from the low slot that was batted away by Bergmann.
Despite the late Garnet Charger offensive flurry, the Red still dominated the statline at the second intermission. Cornell outshot Union 32-7 over the game’s first two periods, with Matsoukas making 30 saves to Bergmann’s seven.
Eventually, Cornell’s offensive game-long onslaught began to pay off. 4:19 into the period, Prefontaine lit the lamp for a second time when she rifled a shot off the glove off Matsoukas and into the net. Prefontaine’s two-goal game came a year after she scored an overtime goal against Quinnipiac in game one of last year’s ECAC quarterfinals.
“The atmosphere is pretty good,” Prefontaine said when asked about her playoff success at Lynah Rink. “I want to play for our fans.”
Fleming was credited with an assist on both of Prefotnaine’s goals, giving the sophomore 15 points on the season.
With 12:35 remaining in the period, Cornell nearly scored its second goal of the stanza when junior forward Avi Adam rang the inside of the goal post, but the puck bounced away from the net.
Thirty seconds later, sophomore forward Beatrice Perron-Roy drew Cornell’s first penalty of the game when a Union skater was whistled for hitting her from behind. Cornell’s power play offense, which entered the game tenth in the nation, could not find the back of the net.
Then freshman defender Rose Dwyer was whistled for tripping less than a minute later, giving Union its third skater advantage of the night. Despite some high-percentage chances, the story was the same for the Garnet Chargers and Bergmann’s shutout remained intact. For Derraugh, the key to the lock-down defensive performance was stopping Union rushes.
“Fortunately, we didn’t allow them to counter tonight. I thought that was [the] important piece of the puzzle,” Derraugh said.
As time wore down, Union began to press forward looking for a late comeback. Instead, a Garnet Charger skater was called for hooking after her stick came up into the facemask of freshman forward Lindzi Avar with 3:09 remaining in the game. Well after the whistle had blown, senior forward Kaitlin Jockims decked the offending Union skater, causing a scrum. After deliberation, the referees opted to not to add any penalties for hitting after the whistle, leading to a Cornell power play.
Just under a minute into the power play, junior forward Georgia Schiff tipped a shot from junior defender Grace Dwyer by Matsoukas to seal the win for Cornell.
“It was a huge keep in the blue by [Dwyer],” Schiff said. “I’m just trying to take away the goalie's size and I got a little lucky there for sure.”
The shutout win was Bergmann’s ninth of the season — the most in the nation. The win also pushes Cornell’s unbeaten streak to twelve, tying a season-high.
“We play our best when we stick to the game plan and play as a team,” Schiff said. “We just enjoy the moment and continue to have fun with it.”
The second game of the quarterfinals between Cornell and Union is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. If Cornell wins, they will advance to the ECAC semifinals, which will be played at Lynah Rink on March 7. If Union wins, a winner-take-all game three will be played Sunday at 3 p.m. All ECAC playoff games at Lynah Rink will be streamed live on ESPN+.
