LYNAH RINK -- The 4th-ranked Big Red women’s hockey team battled to a 1-1 tie with 7th-ranked Clarkson on Friday evening, and handled unranked St. Lawrence for a 3-2 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Clarkson came into the game having won 8 out of their last 10 games, yet Cornell came in even hotter, with an unbeaten streak of 11 games. The Big Red got things going midway through the first period, when junior Finley Frechette scored her second goal in as many games with a tough shot from the right side, which ricocheted off a Clarkson stick into the goal to make it 1-0. Senior Jaime Bourbonnais assisted on the goal for her 98th career point.
Cornell had plenty of good looks in the second period, but they were unable to find the back of the net. Junior goalie Lindsay Browning, however, kept the Big Red in front with a number of acrobatic saves, but Clarkson was finally able to score about a minute into the third period, which set up a thrilling deadlock that lasted until the end of overtime.
The Big Red returned to Lynah Saturday afternoon against St. Lawrence, and on their first power play attempt, Bourbonnais, situated right next to the goal, shoveled in a pass from junior Maddie Mills and senior Amy Curlew to make the score 1-0. This was Bourbonnais’ 99th career point and extended her point streak to 11 games. Mills trails right behind Bourbonnais with 98 career points.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit on the power play the last couple of games, haven’t scored a goal in a while, so I think today we were really itching to get one,” said Bourbonnais. What made the goal even more impressive was the fact that up to that point, St. Lawrence had killed their last 29 power plays.
Cornell added to their lead a few minutes later on an absolute laser from senior Grace Graham, continuing her stellar play with her 4th goal in the last 6 games to make the score 2-0. She was assisted by senior Paige Lewis and sophomore Gillis Frechette, and with 6 different players being involved with the first two goals, Lewis noted that “every line contributes every game. It doesn’t really matter who’s on the ice, everyone’s really generating a lot of offensive chances… It shows that we really work well as a group, and move the puck well.”
After St. Lawrence scored a little more than 8 minutes into the second period, Cornell responded a few minutes later with a slick goal from Gillis Frechette, which was assisted by a pass from Browning and then from Lewis. The assist for Browning was her first career point, who, when her assist was announced over the loudspeaker, got a huge ovation.
Browning touted the energetic crowd that showed up at Lynah this weekend, saying that “whenever the crowd cheers, it gives us energy. It’s always so much easier to play at home than on the road.”
St. Lawrence added their second goal with 7 seconds left in the game, but couldn’t get a desperation shot off, as the Big Red came away with their unbeaten streak intact.
“This is the time of year where every point matters,” said coach Doug Derraugh of the importance of their last 6 games of the season. “I thought both those games were playoff style games this weekend.”
Cornell takes on Harvard in Cambridge next Friday at 6:00pm, and then heads to Dartmouth on Saturday for a 3:00pm game.
Check out the most recent episode of Finley Frechette’s podcast, Over The Goal Line: A CUWIH Podcast right here.
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