In three of its last four games, women’s hockey entered the third period either tied or trailing its opponent. Cornell won three of those games, including the ECAC quarterfinals, semifinals and an NCAA tournament regional final. Friday night in Minneapolis, that streak ended.
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening minutes of its Frozen Four matchup with Ohio State, the Red battled back to tie the score in the second period before ultimately falling 4-2.
The loss ends one of the best seasons in program history. Making its fifth appearance in the Frozen Four, Cornell entered the final weekend of the season on a 16-game unbeaten streak, including capturing the Ivy League, ECAC regular season and ECAC tournament titles.
“I’m really proud of our team, proud of the season we had,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “I don’t think we played our best game today [and] it was not a great time for that. … But I thought we showed our mettle and something we took a lot of pride in all year long is battling through games to come back. We just couldn’t get it done in the third.”
In the first game of the 2025 Frozen Four — playing 854 miles from home, the furthest distance the Red have traveled this season — Cornell came out flat, giving up two goals on Ohio State’s first five shots. After falling into an early deficit, it seemed like the Red was heading for a repeat of the Oct. 26, 7-3 drubbing at the hands of the Buckeyes.
Instead, with 5:38 remaining in the second period, it felt as if Lynah Rink had been transported to Minneapolis. Cornell struck twice just 1:08 apart in the second frame to even the score at two, and sending large swaths of Ridder Arena into a boisterous frenzy.
The first goal — which halved the Ohio State lead — came off the stick of senior forward Lily Delianedis, just as a Cornell power play was expiring. Just as the Lynah Faithful were beginning to quiet, senior forward Kaitlin Jockims received a pass from sophomore defender Piper Grober and led a three-on-one rush into the Ohio State defensive zone. Her wrist shot rocketed by Buckeye netminder Amanda Thiele and completed the second period comeback.
“I had quite a bit of time, so I could get a good shot,” Jockims said. “And then it went in.”
The two-goal comeback was signature Cornell. All season long the Red had battled back from behind to tie and win games which had seemed destined to be losses.
“I knew we could [comeback] from being behind [two goals] and that just gave us a little more life,” Jockims said. “When you get that second goal and it ties the game, it makes [the comeback] real.”
For Derraugh, the relief of mounting a high-stakes comeback may have been behind Cornell’s subsequent third period letdown.
“At the start of the game you’re sort of feeling things a little bit, then you get down, then we started playing our game,” Derraugh said. “Then we tied it up, and I wonder [if] you don’t keep your foot on the pedal the way you were because you knew you had to battle back.”
With the score tied at two, the Buckeyes and Red entered the third period knowing that both teams’ seasons would come down to the game‘s final 20 minutes.
While Cornell's offense looked potent to start the final frame, it was Ohio State who would strike first with a score 3:37 into the period. Patty Kazmeir award finalist Joy Dunne took the puck off a teammate's stick and fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle which deflected off the glove of Bergmann and into the back of the net. The four goals were the most the ECAC Goaltender of the Year had allowed since the team’s previous loss to Ohio State.
“Ohio State is a great team, so they weren’t just going to roll over,” Derraugh said. ”So you got to give them credit that they regrouped in the second period and came out real strong in the third period. It came down to that.”
Now with the lead, the Buckeyes began to dominate. Four minutes after conceding Ohio State’s third goal, Cornell found itself down by two for the second time in the game when Dunne poked a rebound past Bergmann. This time, there was no coming back for the Red.
Though Cornell continued to battle, the Red struggled to get the puck out of its own defensive zone for the game’s remaining 12:38.
Derraugh pulled Bergmann — who finished with 38 saves — with 1:20 left on the clock, and while the Red generated multiple high percentage chances with the extra skater, they could not beat Thiele.
The Red will graduate 11 seniors, including senior defender Ashley Messier who will play a fifth year of college hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth and it will be up to players like Bergmann to learn from this season and carry the team forward.
“The biggest part I learned this year was what it takes to be a team and how you can rely on your teammates. They’re always going to have you back no matter what,” Bergmann said. “I can’t thank the seniors enough for all the things that they’ve taught me. Same with the coaching staff, and I think that’s what allowed not only me to have a great season, but the team to have a great season.”
The 4-2 loss ends Cornell’s hopes of winning the program's first national championship. Next year’s team, which will be led by Bergmann and freshman forward Lindzi Avar, will have its work cut out for it to top a magical 2024-2025 campaign.
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.
