For 50 minutes on Saturday afternoon, No. 5 women’s ice hockey seemed poised to repeat the Red’s dominant 3-0 season opening win. However, with a weekend sweep in hand thanks to a 4-0 lead, a small Cornell roster began to show its tired legs and gave up two Boston College goals in a span of six minutes to end the hopes of a weekend shutout.
“I thought it was a good game,” said senior defender Sarah MacEachern, who scored her first collegiate goal in the contest. “It’s our first weekend as a team, but I think we played together and we started off [the season] on the right foot.”
For the second day in a row, the first major scoring chance of the game came when junior goaltender Annelies Bergmann denied an Ava Thomas one-on-none opportunity in the opening minutes of the game. Thomas — who entered the weekend as the Eagles leading scorer — was denied multiple times by Bergmann throughout the afternoon.
“We gave up some grade-A chances early on and needed some big saves from Annelies [Bergmann]," said head coach Doug Derraugh ’91. “That was huge in both games because I didn’t think we had great starts in either one of them.”
Cornell (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) picked up an early power play opportunity when junior forward Karel Prefontaine was tripped in front of the Eagles’ net three minutes into the game. Like the Red’s two power plays from Friday, Cornell moved the puck well but could not find its way by netminder Grace Campbell and the Eagles defense.
Instead, the Red would strike seven minutes later when senior forward Avi Adam wrapped a pass around an Eagle defender and found Prefontaine alone in front of the left faceoff circle. The Québec native fired a quick one-timer to give Cornell the lead.
Prefontaine, Adam and sophomore forward Lindzi Avar combined for 70 points last season, but were held scoreless in the season opener. On Saturday however, the newly formed line dominated during their time on the ice and nearly scored again multiple times in the opening period.
“All three of those players are going to be crucial,” Derraugh said. “They are three of our top offensive players and they haven't played together on a line like we’ve had. So, it was something we wanted to see.”
Cornell picked up its first penalty of the season when Adam was whistled for body-checking in the waning moments of the first frame, but a pair of Bergmann saves kept Cornell in front at the first intermission. After looking rusty at times in Friday’s first period and tying Boston College (3-4-0, 2-0-0) in shots on goal, the Red’s opening frame on Saturday was better with Cornell dominating the Eagles 14-6.
Cornell began the second period by killing the remaining 45 seconds of the Boston College power play, before a trio of unlikely skaters doubled the Red’s lead.
7:49 into the period, a junior defender Abby Thibodeau shot from the left point deflected off a crowd of players and into the Eagle net. MacEachern was credited with the goal — her first as a Cornellian — and freshman Riley Scorgie also earned an assist for her first collegiate point.
“I was honestly thinking: ‘Why am I down in front of the net?’” MacEachern said with a laugh. “I honestly didn’t know if I scored or not.”
With the Eagles in the midst of their fifth scoreless period of the weekend, frustration began to boil over. Avar and a Boston College player became entangled after a whistle, and the Red earned its second power play when the Cornell forward was punched.
“The second period again seemed to be our best period,” Derraugh said. “I thought we put the pressure on them again and had a lot of chances, played a lot down in their zone.”
The final period was the most eventful of the weekend. Freshman forward Nora Curtis scored Cornell’s third goal of the game when she drove hard to the net, received a rebounding puck, and wristed it by Campbell for her first career goal.
“Amazing,” Curtis said when asked how she felt about her first goal. “Sarah [MacEachern] was right there to give me a hug. It was definitely great to get the monkey off my back in the first weekend.”
Cornell continued to ratchet up the pressure and, moments later, senior defender Grace Dwyer rang the post. Undeterred, Dwyer would ultimately break through 3:42 into the period. After a cross-checking penalty on Boston College, Avar was cross-checked by another Eagle defender and, after a review, Boston College was given a major penalty.
It didn’t take long for Dwyer to take advantage of the five-on-three opportunity. A wrist shot from the right circle lit the lamp and gave Cornell its largest lead of the weekend.
However, Dwyer’s goal marked a turning point. After the Eagles finished off killing the major penalty, the visitors would strike twice to capture their first goals of the weekend. A hard wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle and a second-effort on a rebounding puck ended the possibility of a second Bergmann shutout.
“I think we got the 4-0 lead and played sort of carefully,” Derraugh said. “We just let them come in the zone and they just kept coming in waves.”
Despite the unsatisfying ending, the weekend as a whole was much stronger than the Red’s rocky 0-1-1 start a season ago. With ECAC play beginning next weekend, Cornell will need to keep winning while also managing early-season adjustments.
“It was great,” Curtis said when asked about playing her first pair of games at Lynah Rink. “Definitly a dream come true.”
The Red will be back in action next weekend, when Cornell hits the road to take on Harvard and Dartmouth in the team’s Ivy League and conference openers. Both games will be 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.
