Saturday, March 3, 2012

Cornell Moves on to Championship Round

For the third time in three years, the Big Red women's hockey team will be playing for an ECAC Hockey tournament championship.

A tense second period saw No. 3 Cornell lose its lead over Quinnipiac but then quickly regain it, and the Big Red controlled the third on its way to a 5-1 win over the visiting Bobcats at Lynah rink on Friday afternoon.

Cornell (29-3) advances to Saturday's conference championship game at 4 p.m., where it will play the winner of the Harvard-St. Lawrence semifinal. For Quinnipiac (19-16-2), the season is finished.

“This is definitely a big stepping stone for us, and it's one stepping stone in the right direction,” senior forwardRebecca Johnston said. “It's a good game to have.”

Johnston scored the Big Red's first two goals and assisted on the other three, showing why she was crowned ECAC Hockey's Player of the Year one night earlier. The Big Red's top forward line of Johnston, Brianne Jennerand Jillian Saulnier combined for 11 points in the game.

Amanda Mazzotta (15-2) earned the victory by making 16 saves on a night where the puck spent most of its time far away from her. The Big Red's home dominance continued, and the team is now 17-1 in Lynah.

The Big Red had a great opportunity on the power play early when Chelsea Karpenko had a wide open net, but the senior's shot went wide right. Two minutes later on the penalty kill, Jenner had a shorthanded breakaway but was stoned by Quinnipiac's Victoria Vigilanti.

Late in the period, the Big Red finally broke through with the all-important first goal. Again on the power play, Cornell would not let another opportunity go to waste. After peppering Vigilanti with shots early in the man-advantage, Amanda Young took a blue-line pass from Alyssa Gagliardi and unleashed a slapshot. Standing in front of the net, Johnstondeflected Young's shot past Vigilanti for the 1-0 lead.

Cornell controlled most of the second period, but Quinnipiac evened the game late in the frame. Kelly Babstock took a shot that was blocked, and linemate Nicole Kosta took a rebound shot that was also blocked. But another rebound came out to Erica Uden Johansson, and she fired a backhanded shot past Amanda Mazzotta, who was out of position as she tried to play the first two shots.

Less than a minute later, the Big Red got back on the board and retook the lead when Johnston got her second goal of the game. Taking a pass off the left boards from Jenner, Johnston skated right toward Vigilanti, went backhand and fired a puck that just made it across the goal line.

The referees signaled a goal immediately, and the goal light went on, but play continued as some players on each team thought Vigilanti had kept the puck out. After a brief video review, the goal was upheld and the Big Red celebrated once more.

“It's always important trying to get that momentum back, which we did very quickly there,” coach Doug Derraughsaid. “To add the other one right at the end of the period and go into the dressing room with a little bit of a cushion was very important.”

Sixty-three seconds later, the Big Red got its back-breaking goal. A three-on-two developed for Cornell's top line, and Johnston centered the puck to Saulnier. The ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year had Jenner farther to her left, and she found Jenner for the wide open goal. In a two-minute span, the momentum changed completely from Quinnipiac to Cornell.

Cornell picked up in the third period right where it left off in the second. Just 3:21 into the third, the Big Red's top forward line contributed again. After taking a pass from Johnston, Jenner went behind the net. There, she found a wide open Saulnier, and the freshman fired past Vigilanti to make it 4-1.

“We were just doing the little things right,” Jenner said. “You have a lot of games where you're putting the puck on the net and it's just not happening, but I think we kept digging after the first period.”

Four minutes later, Gagliardi got into the goal scoring as well. Taking a slap shot from the blue line, Gagliardi snuck the puck through traffic and into the net, and Cornell's lead wasa 5-1.

Jenner finished the game with three points, Johnston had five, Saulnier had three, and Gagliardi had two.

Cornell's winning streak now sits at a nation-long 10 games, and Friday was its 11th consecutive ECAC Hockey tournament victory. Cornell has now won six consecutive contests against the Bobcats and swept the season series from them this year by a 16-3 score margin. Cornell is also now .500 all-time, moving its lifetime record to 450-450-50.

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