Weekend Preview: Top 10 Showdown on Tap
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The early battle for league
supremacy begins to take place this weekend as No. 10/10 Harvard
visits No. 2/2 Cornell Friday evening. In addition to this
match-up, other story lines have teams looking to snap streaks,
earn an inaugural win, and bounce back from last week’s
play.
No. 10/10 Harvard/Dartmouth at No. 2/2
Cornell/Colgate: Coming off a dramatic 4-3 overtime
loss this week to No. 4/4 Mercyhurst, Cornell will not have time to
sulk, as it has another top 10 match-up with visiting Harvard,
followed by a Saturday matinee affair with 2-0-0 Dartmouth.
The Big Red rank third in the nation in scoring offense led by
freshman forward Brianne Jenner (5G-6A-11PTS). Harvard holds
the all-time series edge against Cornell with a record of 50-19-3,
despite dropping two of three games to the Big Red last year.
Colgate will also host the Big Green and Crimson over the
weekend. The Crimson and Raiders have faced off 19 times with
Harvard holding a significant advantage in the all-time series at
16-1-2. Colgate has ended three of its first eight games in
overtime. Dartmouth, picked to finish eighth in the preseason
poll, is led by sophomore forwards Sally Komarek and Camille
Dumais. Komarek leads the team in points with four assists
while Dumais has three points off a goal and two assists.
Dartmouth leads the all-time series with Colgate 23-5-2.
Princeton/Quinnipiac at Rensselaer/Union:
Princeton and Quinnipiac travel to the Capital District to take on
Rensselaer and Union this weekend. The Tigers are 1-2-0 in
league action on the young season earning a 2-0 shutout over
Colgate last weekend. Princeton and Rensselaer have split 10
games in the all-time series with each team winning four times and
collecting a pair of ties. Last season both games ended
deadlocked. Princeton is a perfect 14-0 against Union and won
last season's games 6-3 and 3-0. The Engineers return home
for the first time since October 15. Junior forward Jill
Vandegrift sits at the top of the stat chart with two goals and
four assists for six points for RPI. The Bobcats are unbeaten
in seven of its first 10 games (6-3-1). They are ranked in
the Top 15 in the nation in both scoring offense (3.10 G/GM) and
scoring defense (1.90 G/GM). After playing seven
straight home games at Messa Rink, Union took to the road last
weekend for the first time in 2010-11, dropping a pair of close
games to Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Dutchwomen will look
to snap a five-game losing straight as it returns home to host the
Tigers and Bobcats. Sixteen different Dutchwomen have entered
the scoring column thus far in the 2010-11 season.
St. Lawrence at Niagara: St. Lawrence comes
into Thursday night’s game at Niagara after snapping a
four-game losing streak last Saturday, by blanking Union,
1-0. The Saints are led by freshmen forward Rylee Smith and
sophomore forward Kelly Sabatine who currently have six points
each. Another freshman, Caitlyn Lahonen leads the Saints in
net with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .915 save
percentage. The Purple Eagles and Saints have played each
other 14 times with the Saints holding a 10-1-3 advantage coming
into this week’s game. This is the first time these two
teams will meet since Jan. 28, 2006. Niagara’s only win
came back in 2001 with a 3-1 victory at St.
Lawrence.
Clarkson at Syracuse: Clarkson takes a break
from league play when it travels to Central NY Friday to faceoff
against Syracuse for the first time ever. The Golden Knights,
who are 3-2-1 since mid-October, own a 3-6-1 overall record and are
2-0-0 in ECAC Hockey action. Junior Juana Baribeau, who is
working on a five-game point-scoring streak, leads Clarkson in
scoring with seven points on two goals and five assists through 10
games. In its third year as an NCAA program Syracuse, guided
by former St. Lawrence head coach Paul Flanagan, owns a 4-4-1
overall record.
At Brown, Sacred Heart: The Bears will be
the third ECAC Hockey opponent for the Sacred Heart this
season. The Crusaders were blanked by both Quinnipiac (5-0)
and Union (3-0) last month. Brown will be looking to snap a
three losing streak. The Bears have knotted two goals in each
of their loses this season. In each of their first three
games in 2010-11, Bears netminders have made at least 30 stops
versus their opponents. Sacred Heart’s offense has
stumbled this season only scoring four goals in six games.
Yale at Northeastern: Yale
(0-3-2) will look to get into the win column for
the first time season as it travels to Northeastern in a
non-conference battle. The Bulldogs will look for some
offense as they have only scored more than one goal in a game one
time on the season. Freshman defenseman Aurora Kennedy got
the first two points of her career Friday night with a pair of
assists at Harvard. The freshman class has accounted for four
of Yale’s seven goals this season, and four Yale’s
eight assists.
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