At the halfway point of Saturday’s match against No. 11 Princeton, women’s hockey led 1-0. It had outshot and outscored for half an hour, killed off two power plays and was looking for a comeback to the previous night’s disappointment against Quinnipiac.
Over the course of two minutes, that 1-0 lead transformed into a 3-1 deficit. It was the third time in two weeks that the Red had given up three goals in the second period.
Despite a late rally and lead-shrinking goal, No. 8 Cornell (10-5-1, 6-4-0 ECAC) couldn't overcome the second-period lapse. The Red fell 3-2 — its first Ivy League loss, and first time being swept at home since losing to Quinnipiac and Princeton on Nov. 18, 2023.
“One of the things our team is learning is that there’s such a small room for margin of error,” said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “They’ve got to understand that you can’t have those momentary lapses, because teams are just too good.”
The first 10 minutes passed uneventfully, with Cornell outshooting Princeton 4-2. A penalty on senior defender Grace Dwyer broke up the back-and-forth pace, giving the penalty kill its first test of the day, but the Tigers managed just one shot on goal.
The successful shutdown gave the Red momentum that carried over into full strength. Not two minutes after Dwyer’s release from the box, junior forward Delaney Fleming set sophomore forward Lindzi Avar up with a pass from behind the goal. Avar’s close-range shot snuck past reigning ECAC Hockey's Goalie of the Month Uma Corniea to put the Red up 1-0.
“Lindzi [Avar] always puts herself in a good position,” Fleming said. “It’s so much fun playing with her. I was looking for somebody, and I know she has the best shot I’ve ever seen. I knew if I gave it to her, she would most likely be successful.”
With 2:53 left in the opening frame, freshman forward Nora Curtis fired a shot that dinged the crossbar, but neither squad found the back of the net before the first intermission.
Despite taking the only penalty of the period, the Red went to the locker room almost doubling the Tigers' shots, 9-5, and maintaining possession and control for much of the frame.
Princeton’s Gabby Kim threatened Cornell’s lead early in the second period, when her shot, blocked by senior forward Georgia Schiff, sat just outside the goal line before Dwyer swept the puck away.
The Red had only one shot on goal before taking its second penalty, which was fruitless for the Tigers, thanks in part to another block from Schiff who finished with a game-leading six blocks. 20 seconds after getting off the kill, Cornell drew an advantage of its own.
Heading into the weekend, the Red had the strongest collegiate power play in the country, with a 37.7 percent success rate across 53 opportunities. However, like all three of its attempts the day before against Quinnipiac, Cornell emerged from the advantage without a goal.
With just over eight minutes remaining in the period, Princeton snuck one behind Bergmann off a tip by Issy Wunder.
The goal went under review for potential goaltender interference by Wunder, but the challenge was unsuccessful. The score evened out, 1-1.
Seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Emerson O’Leary charged the Cornell goal, taking a shot that ricocheted off Bergmann’s pads directly onto the stick of Wunder for a score that doubled the Tigers’ lead.
Despite shifting the game’s trajectory in less than 22 seconds, Princeton wasn’t finished. 1:35 after their lead-taking goal, the Tigers found success again on a screened shot by Jane Kuehl that was tipped in by Riley Sorokan.
The Red’s attempts to muster a response before the second break were quashed by a late penalty, and Cornell entered the locker room down 3-1 despite outshooting the Tigers 12-10.
“They came back with a strong push at the start of the second,” Derraugh said. “[They were] kind of weird goals. We let them get in front too much, but credit to them. They got pucks to the net. They got people to the net.”
With the extra-skater advantage carried over into the third period, Cornell spent the opening minute of the stanza on the kill. Still, the Red clawed back control, taking the first two shots on goal of the frame and earning several close calls just outside the goal mouth.
Cornell earned a power play and a chance to narrow the deficit, but the closest it got to success were a post-hitting shot from senior forward Avi Adam and barely blocked attempt by sophomore defender Rose Dwyer.
The Red finally struck back when, just over the halfway point in the final period, a shot by Schiff ricocheted off Adam and senior forward Mckenna Van Gelder before rolling past Corniea.
“After that second goal, I think that’s when we really realized we were in this game. It’s not over,” Fleming said. “If we keep that energy throughout the whole game, not just after a nice goal or we get scored on, then maybe we’d have more success in the future.”
The goal signaled a rebound in energy for Cornell, and the Red laid into Corniea in the following minutes. After Bergmann was pulled from her post with 2:29 remaining on the clock, O’Leary earned possession in front of the open net, but her eager shot hit the bottom of the post.
The remaining time waned without an equalizer, and Cornell eventually fell, 3-2. The Red had taken 31 shots to the Tigers’ 18, the second loss in a row in which Cornell had the vast majority of chances. With the win, Princeton (11-4-0, 8-2-0 ECAC) extended its win streak to seven and its lead at the top of the ECAC Hockey standings.
“It’s a good time for a break, and a good time for us to go through some things with the team to hopefully right the ship in the second half,” Derraugh said. “We have to play as a team, and we’re never going to be perfect, but we’ve got to be solid and committed to strong defensive hockey.”
Cornell will seek redemption at No. 4 Penn State on Dec. 30, with three and a half weeks of break to regroup. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m.
Tyler Goldberg and Eli Fastiff contributed reporting.
Alexis Rogers is the sports editor on the 143rd editorial board. She is in the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts & Sciences, and she can be reached at arogers@cornellsun.com.
