Rensselaer Slips Past Cornell

Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y.-The Big Red women's ice hockey team was edged out by Rensselaer, 4-3, on Friday night. Cornell jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, but RPI would score four of its own to slip past the Big Red. Cornell moves to 7-7-1 overall and is 4-4-1 against ECAC Hockey competition. The Engineers improve to 9-8-3 overall and are 4-5-2 in league competition.   

Defenseman Melanie Jue was fed the puck from senior forwards Caeleigh Beerworth and Brittany Forgues to the right point. Jue rifled a huge slap shot from just below the blue line to send her first goal of the season past RPI goaltender Ashley Mayr at 5:24 of the first period.   Fellow sophomore Laura Danforth increased the Big Red's lead to two goals when she flipped the puck into the net at 8:05 of the first period. Beerworth and Forgues each picked up their second assists of the night on the goal. After Danforth's goal, Sonja Van der Bliek took over in net for the Engineers.  

The Big Red retained its lead until 8:18 of the second period when Whitney Naslund scored an unassisted shorthanded goal. The Engineers' Kendra Dunlop tied the game at two when she scored a little over eight minutes later off an assist by Mel Guillemette.  

Cornell was shorthanded halfway through the third period when sophomore Liz Zorn stole the puck away from a Rensselaer player and fed the puck up the ice to Forgues. Forgues scored her third goal of the season, shorthanded at 12:10 of the third period.  

The Engineers tied the game back up at 14:55 of the third period when Dunlop scored her second goal of the game.   Naslund shot the puck at goaltender Kayla Strong, who made the initial save. Strong was not able to cover it before a cluster of players were in the crease trying the find the puck. RPI's Nicole McDonald scooted the puck past Strong to score the game-winning goal at 15:43 of the third period.  

Strong made 15 saves in net for the Big Red while, Van der Bliek made 22. Cornell outshot Rensselaer 27-19.  

The Big Red will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when it faces Union at 4 p.m. in Lynah Rink.