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DiscussThe No. 6 women’s hockey team managed an undefeated weekend as it took on two ECAC opponents, Princeton and Quinnipiac. On Friday night in New Jersey the Princeton Tigers (6-3-1, 5-2-1 ECAC Hockey) were left scoreless as the Red (6-3-1, 6-1-1) skated past them for a final score of 1-0. Saturday afternoon featured a 3-3 tie with the Quinnipiac Bobcats (6-4-4, 4-1-3) at their rink in the TD Bank Sports Center.
The game against the Tigers proved to be a relatively calm one, as the only action seen by the scoreboard was early in the game. Sophomore forward Catherine White took the puck past Tigers’ goaltender Rachel Weber at the 2:57 mark of the first period, with assists from senior forward Melanie Jue and sophomore forward Chelsea Karpenko.
“I was really excited after the goal,” White said. “We only lost and tied against Princeton last year, so getting the lead pretty early was nice.” [4]Whiteout: Sophomore forward Catherine White (20) scored for the Red on Sunday.
Both teams excelled during the penalty kills, as neither Cornell nor Princeton was able to take advantage of its respective two and three power plays. The game proved to be the fourth consecutive Friday shutout for Red goaltender Amanda Mazzotta, who managed to stop all 14 of the Tigers’ attempts.
“Everyone was really excited,” Karpenko said. “It wasn’t a pretty win, but we held on to our one-goal lead.”
The following day, the results weren’t as favorable for the Red when it played the Bobcats. The game started with a goal by the Bobcats at 15:04 in the first period. White managed to respond less than three minutes later, however, knotting the game at 1-1. The Red gained a 3-1 lead during the second period as Karpenko made a power play goal with an assist from freshman defenseman Laura Fortino, followed by a goal at 15:29 by junior forward Karlee Overguard.
“It felt great to put one in,” Karpenko said. “We had the man advantage and were able to capitalize on that.”
The Red was unable to keep this lead, though, as the Bobcats made two goals, eight seconds apart from one another, with under a minute left in the third period. The game concluded in a 3-3 tie.
“It was heartbreaking. I know we tied, but it felt like a loss,” White said. “We’re going to have to learn from our experience. We can’t be giving up goals with 29 seconds left.”
Moving forward, the Red is going to play two consecutive non-ECAC games against Niagara University this weekend. The games will take place Saturday night at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., both at Lynah Rink.
These two games are expected to be tough for the Red, as Niagara (5-5-4) was able to tie the No. 1 Mercyhurst Lakers over the weekend.
“We’re going to stick to our game plan and use our speed to stay strong in front of both their net and our net, and capitalize on our scoring chances,” Karpenko said.
“We need to learn to bury and finish our chances,” White added. “I felt in both the games against Quinnipiac and Princeton, we were able to manage a lot of shots on net that just ended up hitting the post or missing. We need to be able to bury the puck.”
The Red’s energy will be pretty high during both Niagara matches, where the Red will hope to maximize its speed and skill.
“Everyone’s really excited, and we’re going to play hard. Even though they’re not in our conference, they’re still a quality team and we’re going to play to the best of our ability,” White said.