In a rare mid-week out-of-conference matchup, women’s hockey continued its annual tradition of beating Syracuse, notching its 17th consecutive win over the Orange. For the second time this season, five different players scored for No. 4 Cornell, while junior goaltender Annelies Bergmann picked up her third shutout of the season. With the win, the Red improves to 5-0-0 for the first time since the 2019-2020 season.
Coming off what head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 called his team’s “most complete game of the season” against Dartmouth, the Red struggled initially against Syracuse (5-6-0, 3-1 AHA). Slow starts have become a theme for the Red, with Cornell being outshot 13-6 in the first 20 minutes by Harvard in Friday night’s win.
“I didn’t like our start again tonight. I just thought we were lacking a sense of urgency, maybe a little complacent. Execution and our details wasn’t great, passing wasn’t great,” Derraugh said. “Again, it got going once we sort of got ourselves going, but it was similar to the Harvard game in that regard.”
After an uneventful opening half of the period thanks to a series of saves from Bergmann and Syracuse netminder Maïka Paquin, senior forward Avi Adam was whistled for cross checking giving Syracuse the first power play of the game.
Less than a minute after the Red killed off the advantage, Cornell received a power play opportunity of its own but could not capitalize. However, the pair of penalties seemed to open up play for both teams, with both netminders being forced to make increasingly difficult saves.
Eventually, Cornell broke through. Sophomore defender Rose Dwyer fired a wrist shot from the point that snuck by a screened Paquin for her first goal of the season.
“It was a great screen in front by Reggie [senior defender Alyssa Regalado], who is actually a D,” Dwyer said with a laugh. “I just shot it through [the screen].”
The Red nearly doubled its lead moments later, but senior forward Karel Prefontaine’s bid was denied by the right goalpost.
After putting 11 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, Cornell’s offensive pressure began to force Syracuse into making mistakes in the second period. First, the Red doubled its lead when senior forward Georgia Schiff poked a rebounding puck into the back of the net 1:22 into the period. Then, Syracuse was whistled for a pair of penalties four minutes apart.
The Red’s power play finally broke through on its third attempt of the game to give the Red a 3-0 lead. After cycling the puck around the perimeter of the shorthanded Orange defense, Prefontaine rocketed a shot which sophomore forward Lindzi Avar redirected past the glove of the Syracuse netminder. Freshman forward Nora Curtis also picked up an assist, her first as a Cornellian.
Syracuse mounted its first sustained pressure on Bergmann late in the period, but could not beat the 2024-2025 second team All-American.
“We’re sticking to our systems in our D zone,” said senior forward Mckenna Van Gelder when asked about the team’s defensive success. “Everyone’s playing their role and nothing more, so I think that just allows each and every player to help trust in everyone and realize that they can kind of just focus on themselves.”
After Cornell’s penalty kill unit stayed perfect on the season by denying an early third period Syracuse skater-advantage, Van Gelder drew a penalty of her own. Seven seconds into the power play she created, the Ontario native tallied her first goal of the season.
“We work hard at [the power play offense] every week, so that was really nice to get our power play going,” Van Gelder said. “It was a great screen by Georgia [Schiff], smart shot by Piper [Grober], so it was mostly them who did it. I just picked up the trash.”
Junior defender Piper Grober tacked on a goal 2:25 after Van Gelder’s score. With under three minutes remaining, Cornell picked up penalties 55 seconds apart giving Syracuse a five-on-three advantage. The Red stood strong, securing the win and its 12th penalty kill of the season.
Looking Ahead
After the successful opening to ECAC and Ivy League play last weekend, Cornell will face off against two more conference foes this weekend. On Friday night, the Red will take on No. 15 Yale before facing No. 14 Brown the following day.
The Bulldogs (3-1-0, 1-1-0 ECAC) opened the season with a sweep of Robert Morris, outscoring the Colonials by a combined score of 9-2. Though Yale’s defense looked solid against Robert Morris, the loss of three-year starting goaltender Pia Dukaric looms large. The New Haven squad gave up three goals to both No. 7 Quinnipiac and Princeton en route to splitting its ECAC opening weekend.
“They’ve got all the ingredients to be one of the better teams in our league,” Derraugh said. “I do think it will be a real challenge for us and [I’m] looking forward to it.”
Brown (3-1, 1-1-0 ECAC) should serve as the hardest test Cornell has faced this season. The Bears downed then-No. 13 Boston University on Oct. 17, before handing Quinnipiac its lone loss of the season .
“They're always physical, they always play hard, and they're well coached too,” Derraugh said.
Despite the increasing quality of opponents, Cornell’s attitude remains the same.
“We don’t change our mindset based on the teams we play,” Van Gelder said when asked about the importance of this weekend’s conference matchups. “So we’re just going to go in with the mindset that we work hard, we trust each other, and we play with passion.”
Cornell will host Yale Friday night at 5 p.m., before facing Brown Saturday at 3 p.m. Both games will be played at Lynah Rink and streamed live on ESPN+.
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.
