Cornell Gets Close Win Against Rival Princeton
ITHACA, N.Y. – The numbers on the scoreboard might not
show it, but the No. 3 Big Red women's hockey team played one of
its best games all season in front of nearly 1,300 fans at Lynah
Rink on Friday night.
Cornell, with two shutouts in its first four games of the new year,
added another one in a 1-0 win against ECAC Hockey and Ivy League
rival Princeton.
Though the team scored just one goal, it controlled the puck for
most of the contest and outshot Princeton 39-14. The Tigers'
defense and goaltending was excellent, but Cornell's was even
better in the first start for Amanda Mazzotta since Dec. 3.
Mazzotta (7-2) made all 14 saves that were asked of her and came
away with her second shutout of the season. The Big Red has allowed
a mere two goals in its last five games.
“It's pretty exciting when you can shut them out or keep them
to a low amount of goals,” senior defenseman Amanda Young
said. “You know that you've done everything you can do to
help the team.”
With the win, Cornell (15-2, 11-1 ECA Hockey) remains atop the
conference standings with Quinnipiac. Princeton (8-10-4, 7-7-2),
which came into the day in third place, was passed in the league
standings by Clarkson and Dartmouth.
“I thought from our goalie out today, we showed relentless
effort,” coach Doug Derraugh said.
Rebecca Johnston got the Big Red offense going at the 2:14 mark of
the first period. Linemate Jillian Saulnier chipped the puck down
the ice, and it bounced off Brianne Jenner's shinpad to Johnston.
The defenseman marking Johnston went up to play the puck but got
passed by Johnston in the process. The result was a breakaway, and
Johnston's aim netted the puck past Tigers goalie Rachel Weber.
In the second period, despite firing an impressive 19 shots on
goal, the Big Red was unable to get a puck past Weber. At one point
late in the period, Cornell took five consecutive shots on goal
while cycling through its lines against a tired Princeton
defense.
The final frame saw more dominance from the Big Red, but a late
penalty gave the Tigers a six-on-four chance with a pulled goalie.
Still, the defense held strong and Cornell came away with the tight
victory.
Cornell's win was its sixth in a row against the Tigers, and the
Big Red has now swept the two-game regular season series. Cornell
also jumped up in the Ivy League standings and is just one point
behind Princeton with two games in hand.
Cornell now has two days off before heading to Syracuse for an
out-of-conference game on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The Big Red
knocked off the Orange 9-2 earlier in the season.












