Playing an all-around complete game, women’s hockey went three-for-five on the skater advantage and allowed just 19 shots in a 5-1 win over Brown on Saturday. The Red’s unrelenting forecheck caused turnovers and secured possession for a vast majority of its afternoon tilt against the Bears, earning the team its seventh win of the young season.
While the game got off to a slow start for both teams, Brown had the first chance of the game heading to the power play five minutes into the game. The Red (7-0-0, 4-0-0 ECAC) killed the penalty thanks to two high-quality saves from junior goaltender Annelies Bergmann.
Bergmann remained solid in net throughout the afternoon, not allowing second chance opportunities and piggybacking off of her 39-save shutout last night against Yale.
“She’s just been so solid for us, she gives us a lot of confidence and she’s a big part of our early success” said head coach Doug Derraugh ‘91.
With 7:42 remaining in the first period, Brown took a slashing penalty to give the Red its first power play. Entering the offensive zone, senior defender Alyssa Regalado found space to walk in and fire a shot into the top right corner of the net. The power play tally, Regalado’s first goal of the season, was the first power play goal Brown (3-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC) had let up this season.
“It feels really nice to finally get one, but honestly, it's been everyone around me putting in the work,” Regalado said. “That goal was a great play by Nora [Curtis] driving the back door and making the goalie think I might pass it, and giving me that shot opportunity.”
With time ticking down in the first period, junior forward Delaney Fleming streaked down the left wing and found senior forward Georgia Schiff’s backhand for a deflection in front of the net. The late goal, scored with 34 seconds left, put the Red up 2-0 heading into the second period.
Through the middle frame, the Red continued to hem Brown in its defensive zone. Just over halfway through the period, Schiff deflected a senior defender Grace Dwyer’s shot from the point past Brown’s goaltender for her second goal of the game (and fourth goal of the season), giving Cornell a 3-0 lead.
The Schiff, Van Gelder and Fleming trio may have been the best line for the Red on Saturday, combining for five points.
“I didn’t play with either of them last year,” Schiff said. “Getting that chemistry, working in practice and games, the more you play together, the more chemistry you have.”
A minute into the third period, Fleming took a hard hit in the corner and drew a two minute minor penalty for body-checking. Working it around on the skater advantage, the Red found a wide open junior defender Piper Grober for a wrist-shot that Brown’s goaltender stopped with a flashy glove save.
Five minutes later, a well-placed feed from senior forward Mckenna Van Gelder to a streaking senior defender Sarah MacEachern led to a Brown hooking penalty. On the skater advantage, senior forward Avi Adam fed sophomore forward Lindzi Avar in the bumper position for a one-timer that rebounded out to junior forward Karel Prefontaine who found the back of the wide open cage, making it 4-0.
A few minutes later, Brown’s Sam Broz responded, finding the back of the net on a one-timer after a Red giveaway along the wall. The goal made it 4-1 Red and spoiled the chance for a shutout weekend.
With 5:34 remaining in the third period, Schiff drew a roughing penalty, sending Cornell to its final skater advantage of the game. Prefontaine tried an along-the-ice shot from the right circle and a powerful sophomore defender Rose Dwyer one-timer sailed wide before a Van Gelder wrister from the high slot whistled by Brown’s goaltender to make the score 5-1 Cornell.
Van Gelder’s second tally of the season came from Grace Dwyer and Schiff, capping a successful Red special teams performance which included killing a pair of penalties and converting thrice on the power play.
“Our special teams was good again. The kill did a nice job, and the power play got some goals there too. So that's been really good here in the first half of the season,” Derraugh said.
As the final horn rang out, the Red possessed the puck, as it did for most of the game, and picked up its seventh win of the season.
The Red will have nearly two weeks off before facing off against Colgate in the annual home-and-home series with the Raiders. The teams will face off Friday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m. in Hamilton, before dropping the puck exactly 24 hours later at Lynah Rink. Both games will stream live on ESPN+.
