Cornell Not Living in the Past
The following article appeared in the November 17 issue of the Cornell Daily Sun.
Managing expectations is always a difficult task and is especially important in the world of sports. Hype about the perceived greatness of a specific team is something any team who is expected to be elite goes through; some teams respond to that favorably and rise to the challenge, while others fold under the pressure and cannot live up to expectations.
Compared to last season, the women’s hockey team is on the other end of the spectrum expectation-wise this season. After years of finishing towards the bottom of the standings in the ECAC, Cornell exploded onto the scene last year, winning the Ivy League, ECAC and earning the program’s first-ever NCAA bid. Cornell took its run all the way to the championship game at the Frozen Four, before eventually falling to Minnesota-Duluth in triple overtime.
“Obviously last year we kind of a made a mark on the [NCAA tournament],” said junior forward Chelsea Karpenko, who is currently tied for third on the team with nine points on the season. “We kind of proved to everybody else that we’re for real, so of course this year the expectations for us are pretty big. But we really just try to focus on what we’re doing and not worry about what everybody else is saying.”
