Cornell defeated St. Lawrence 4-2 Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena, as both teams completed their 2014 schedule. Cornell improved to 5-2-0 in ECAC play while St. Lawrence fell to 5-3-1.
St. Lawrence held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play on sophomore Brooke Webster’s team-leading 11th goal of the season. Kennedy Marchment fed Webster the puck in the slot, and Webster took the puck from her forehand to her backhand and slipped it past Cornell goalie Paula Voorheis at 10:27 of the opening frame.
The Saints failed to capitalize on three Cornell penalties, including a five-on-three for 1:29, in the first period. Cornel coach Dough Derraugh credited this kill with his team’s ability to get back into the game.
“That was huge for us; the penalty killing all this weekend was huge for us,” said Derraugh following the win.
The second period saw Cornell score twice in less than four minutes to take a 2-1 lead. First, Brianna Veerman evened the score on a power-play goal for the Big Red at 8:02 of the second. Then, Kaitlin Doering found herself alone on the right hashmarks, where Hanna Bunton threaded her a pass that Doering one-timed past SLU goaltender Carmen MacDonald at 11:14 of the middle frame.
In the third, the Saints tied the game on a goal from Kailee Heidersbach, her fifth of the season, at the 7:26 mark.
“The puck was bouncing around a lot, and it came right to my stick; I just took a half-slapper right in the top of the net,” said Heidersbach.
Both teams had opportunities to score in the third, but it was Cornell that broke the tie at 13:39 of the final period. Emily Fulton skated the puck into the SLU zone to the right faceoff circle before sending a saucer pass into the SLU crease that Jillian Saulnier tipped past MacDonald to open a 3-2 lead for the Big Red.
Fulton then scored a goal of her own from the right faceoff dot when she toe-dragged around the SLU defender and fired a wrist shot past MacDonald on the high glove side to give the Big Red a 4-2 lead.
The Saints had a late power-play opportunity and pulled their goalie, but could not beat Voorheis, and Cornell headed back to Ithaca with a sweep that saw them score 12 goals in two games.
Derraugh was pleased to see his team score more often.
“Obviously, we are happy we are starting to get some offensive output,” he said.
Though disappointed with the final score, St. Lawrence coach Chris Wells was not upset with his team’s performance.
“I don’t think it was a case of them playing better than us or us playing better than them. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t, and Cornell was able to score.”
