After taking home the program’s seventh ECAC regular season championship the night before in a 6-2 win over Brown, No. 4 women’s hockey struggled to find the back of the net in a 1-1 tie with Yale. The Red tallied an impressive 37 shots on goal, but committed four penalties in the contest. Eventually, the Bulldog power play broke through, forcing the Red to settle for a tie and spoiling Cornell’s senior day celebrations.
In honor of their final regular season game, head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 started five seniors alongside sophomore goaltender Annelies Bergmann, and ten of the 11 rostered seniors dressed for their final regular season contest.
With former Cornell captain and current Seattle Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell ’14 in attendance, the Red got off to a hot start in the opening period. 1:27 into the frame, sophomore forward Delaney Fleming nearly lit the lamp on a wrist shot from the slot, but the puck found the chest of Yale netminder Pia Dukaric. A junior forward Avi Adam breakaway three minutes into the period also elicited an impressive Dukaric save.
Under duress for much of the opening 20 minutes of play, the Bulldog senior made 17 saves to keep Cornell off the scoreboard. On the other end of the ice, Bergmann had a more relaxed opening period, making just three saves, including one on a breakaway minutes after Dukaric had done the same.
With 2:49 to go in the period, junior forward Georgia Schiff committed the first penalty of the afternoon, but the Bulldogs could not capitalize. The successful penalty kill came on the heels of Cornell’s 2-0 win over Yale on Nov. 8, when the Red killed over nine minutes of Bulldog skater advantages.
The second period started just as the first ended: on the penalty kill. Sophomore defender Piper Grober was called for cross checking early in the frame.
3:58 after Cornell killed off the Grober penalty, the Red got a turn with the skater advantage when sophomore forward Karel Prefontaine drew a holding penalty. While Cornell pressured Dukaric, the nation’s 10th-best power play could not find the back of the net.
Joining the parade of penalties, junior defender Grace Dwyer was sent off for tripping with 6:51 remaining in the period, briefly giving the Yale defense a much needed respite. On the ensuing skater advantage, the Bulldogs threatened to take the lead but Bergmann made a difficult save on a point-blank one-timer from a Yale skater to keep the contest scoreless.
Then, with 22 seconds left in the power play, senior forward Gabbie Rud nearly scored the Red’s second shorthanded goal of the weekend, but a Dukaric glove save denied the Cornell captain.
Just seven seconds after Cornell killed the penalty, the Bulldogs were whistled for tripping giving Cornell its second power play. Again, Cornell threatened to score but could not find its way past Dukaric.
The penalty-filled second period was still mostly controlled by Cornell, but the Red were outshot by the Bulldogs, 8-7.
Cornell finally solved the Yale defense 5:17 into the final period. The rush up to the game’s opening goal started when junior forward Mckenna Van Gelder broke through the Yale defense to earn a one-on-none opportunity.
However, the Ontario native’s deke attempt on the Yale netiminer failed, leading her to circle behind the net with the puck before passing it back in front of the net. Both a Cornell and Yale skater could not corral the pass, and the puck made its way to the high slot before Grober rifled it into the back of the net. The assist gave Van Gelder her 20th point of the season.
The Red entered the afternoon having won 16 of the 20 games in which it had led 1-0, and for most of the third it looked like that streak would continue.
Unfortunately for Cornell, the lead would not last. With 3:36 remaining in the final frame, junior defender Alyssa Regalado was sent to the penalty box for interference. Just 24 seconds into the penalty, the Bulldogs finally solved Cornell’s penalty kill and tied the score thanks to a collapse of Cornell’s back line.
While Cornell earned a final power play with 42 seconds remaining in the third period, neither team could find a game-winner in regulation, the 1:18 of Cornell’s 4-3 overtime power play, or the 3:42 of extra three-on-three play.
Cornell could not muster a shootout goal, and the Bulldogs converted to claim the shootout win.
As the 1-1 score showed, both Bergmann and Dukaric were excellent over the course of the afternoon, making a combined 58 saves. Dukaric stole the show with her 36 saves.
Despite the disappointing result, Cornell maintained its weekend gains in the Pairwise. The Red jumped the University of Minnesota the previous night for the third spot in the mathematical rankings which determine NCAA tournament seeding.
Having secured a first-round bye in the ECAC tournament, Cornell will next play on Feb. 28 in the ECAC quarterfinals against the lowest remaining seed. That matchup, the first in a best of three series, will take place at Lynah Rink at a time yet to be announced.
Eli Fastiff is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and a member of the class of 2026 in the College of Arts and Sciences. You can follow him on X @Eli_Fastiff and reach him at efastiff@cornellsun.com.
