HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/1/08) – The Cornell University women’s hockey team halted Colgate University’s streak in the all-time series, with a 3-2 win at Starr Rink on Friday, Feb. 1. The Raiders entered the game unbeaten in the last 10 meetings. All five of the goals scored in the contest came within just over nine minutes of each other in the second period.

 

Despite being shorthanded on the roster, Cornell came out with a lot of energy in the first period and immediately put Colgate netminder Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, Ont.) to work. Plenderleith brought her A game turning away the pucks against a fast paced Big Red squad. The Colgate offense also had its fair share of opportunities, however the first period ended scoreless with the Big Red holding an 11-7 edge in shots.

 

Junior Sam Hunt (Calgary, Alta.) put the Raiders on the scoreboard first with a short-handed goal at 6:36. Hunt won a face off deep in the zone and brought the puck into the slot where she rifled it into the bottom right corner.

 

Cornell responded just 35 seconds later with a power-play goal. Karlee Overguard had the puck on the left side and sent a cross-ice pass to Liz Zorn who went stick side with a low level shot at 7:11.

 

The two teams traded even-strength goals in the next five minutes. Caeleigh Beerworth scored her first of two goals when she got the puck in the left circle and shot through traffic and into the right corner at 8:08. Brittany Forgues and Hayley Hughes picked up assists on the play.

 

Freshman Jessi Waters (Menlo Park, Calif.) battled for the puck behind the net and sent it up to freshman Hannah Milan (Great Barrington, Mass.). Milan sent the puck across the ice and sophomore Beth Rotenberg (Toronto, Ont.) who stretched her stick out to collect the puck and turned to send the puck behind goaltender Jenny Niesluchowski at 12:33.

 

Cornell scored the game-winning goal on the power-play at 15:40. Freshman Rebecca Johnston ripped a shot from the point that was saved by Plenderleith but the puck rebounded back out to the right side where Beerworth popped in behind Plenderleith who was down on the ice recovering from the initial shot.

 

Colgate battled in the third period to get the equalizer, putting 15 shots on net to Cornell’s nine. With just over four minutes to play sophomore Marissa Dombovy (Webster, N.Y.) had the best chance to tie it up when the puck was free in front of the net, but Niesluchowski came up with a big glove save.

 

With 46 seconds remaining Colgate pulled Plenderleith in favor of the extra attacker but could not sneak one by Niesluchowski.

 

Plenderleith also shined in the final frame, squashing two one-on-one efforts. She stopped a breakaway and caught the rebound with 12 minutes to play and six minutes later made a leg save after Cornell was on the opposite end of a turnover.

 

Colgate outshot Cornell, 38-29 in the contest. Plenderleith finished the night with 26 saves, and Niesluchowski stopped 36.

 

The Raiders went 0-for-2 on the power-play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

 

Colgate falls to 9-12-4 overall and 6-6-3 in the league, while Cornell gains ground in the league standings with a 7-7-1 record and a 10-10-1 overall mark. Both teams now sit in sixth place in the standings along with Yale.

 

Colgate and Cornell will face off again tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 2, at Lynah Rink at 4 p.m.