Lady Icers to Host Purple Eagles

The women's hockey team will play its final home game of the year on Sunday, when it faces Niagara at 2 p.m. at Lynah Rink. The Red (0-7-1, 0-5-1) is coming off two losses at the hands of Connecticut and Boston College last weekend on the road.

Niagara (7-7-0) will look to halt its five-game skid against Maine tomorrow before heading to Ithaca.

The icers lost a close game last Saturday to the Huskies, as Connecticut jumped out to a 2-0 lead it would not relinquish. The Red would answer back on the power play late in the second period, with junior Anita Khar tallying the team's first power play goal of the season. Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the third, as Connecticut came away with the win.

On Sunday, B.C. netted two goals late in the first period, but the Red again answered with a power play goal from freshman Jen Munhofen in the second period. The Eagles would seal the victory in the third, as it tacked on two more scores to come away with the 4-1 victory.

The Purple Eagles started the season with a bang, notching a 7-2 record and knocking off then No. 5 Brown. Niagara has been in a slump lately, as it hasn't won a game since Nov. 15. Last weekend, the Purple Eagles were swept on the road by No. 6 New Hampshire. With a 3-1 conference record, Niagara sits atop the CHA Women's Conference, although Mercyhurst trails by only two points and has two games in hand.

With the loss of All-American goaltender Tania Pinelli to graduation, freshman Breanne Doyle has played incredibly, netting her first collegiate shutout in only her second game of the season. She stopped 40 shots as Niagara came from behind to beat Brown, and notched her second shutout after a 6-0 thumping of B.C. She has been sharing time between the pipes with junior Jennifer Mascaro, who has seen slightly more ice time than Doyle.

"Niagara's definitely a team that we can challenge to win the hockey game. They lost to UConn 3-2, and I felt that we were a strong enough team to beat UConn, so it's a game we can win," commented head coach Melody Davidson. "We just have to keep working hard and believe in ourselves, and have the confidence around the net that we need to score goals."

Seniors Liz Connelly and Sanya Sandahl have been splitting time between the pipes for the Red all season. Sandahl started in back-to-back games against Brown and Harvard, while Connelly was in net for both games last weekend. Coach Davidson has yet to decide who will be in goal for Sunday's game. Freshman Flora Vineberg saw her first collegiate action against Brown, as she came in midway through the second period, and made 22 saves.

The line of Khar, junior Briana Jentner, and sophomore Pearle Nerenberg accounts for almost half of the team's scoring this season. Khar leads the team in scoring with 2 goals and 2 assists. The Red will need to increase its offensive production against Niagara, as it hasn't scored more than two goals in a game this season. Last season, Niagara came away with a 3-0 victory against Cornell at the Purple Eagle Invitational.

The Red will head to Montreal in the first week of January to play in the Concordia Tournament. Last year, Cornell advanced to the finals of the eight-team tournament, but lost 4-3 when Dominique Rancour scored the game-winning goal with two seconds remaining in the game.

The team will then travel to Ohio to battle Findlay for a two-game set the following week, and will return home to Lynah on Jan. 18 for a weekend series against Mercyhurst.

"Every time you play a game, you get more experience. All the non-conference games we have upcoming are strong teams, so there's not going to be any guaranteed wins for sure," remarked Davidson. "We'll just keep working along, and hopefully as we go through continue to gain confidence offensively so that we get back to our conference games, we're putting the puck in the net more regularly."

The icers' conference schedule starts up again at the end of January, when the team travels to the North Country for two games against St. Lawrence.

W. Hockey Drops Pair

The women's hockey team lost two tough games this weekend to Connecticut (6-7-2) and Boston College (6-4-1). The Red (0-7-1, 0-5-1 ECAC) fell 2-1 to Connecticut on Saturday and 4-1 to B.C. on Sunday in its first non-conference games of the season.

Connecticut opened the scoring on Saturday when Angie Wallace fired a shot to the opposite post past senior Liz Connelly with a minute and a half remaining in the first period. Jill VanDam and Stefanie Snow assisted on the score. The Huskies would add another goal 7:37 into the second period. With junior Anita Khar in the penalty box for obstruction, Laura Stosky put one past Connelly from the side of the net.

The Red would answer back with a goal of its own on the power play. Khar put one past Shannon Murphy at 14:42, with assists going to sophomore Pearle Nerenberg and junior Briana Jentner. Khar's goal marked the team's first power play goal this season.

The icers were unable to close the gap in the third period, however, and the Huskies came away with its sixth win of the season. Connelly stopped 36 shots for the Red, while Murphy turned aside 22.

"I thought we battled and played hard. Again, we're struggling to find the net, and until we do, our confidence is going to go up and down, which we pay a price on," commented head coach Melody Davidson.

On Sunday, Boston College notched two goals late in the first period to grab a lead it would never relinquish. Heide Seidewand tallied her fifth goal of the season at 16:31, and Lindsey Bazzone notched her sixth of the season less than two minutes later.

The icers came out very strong after the first intermission, dominating the second period. With the Red on the power play, Khar found freshman Jen Munhofen, who fired a shot over Alison Quandt's shoulder for her first collegiate goal at 14:27. Cornell outshot the Eagles eight to three in the period.

Boston College would put the game away in the third, as Jaclyn Krysak connected on a pass from Kristin Blundo at 7:30 to put the Eagles up by two. Gen Richardson added another score at 13:24 off a feed from Seidewand.

"The fourth goal was a real bad bounce. I've never seen a goal like it before, there was some bad luck there," remarked Davidson.

Connelly made 22 saves on the afternoon, with Quandt finishing with 19.

Despite the lack of offense on the weekend, Davidson was very pleased with the effort put forth by the team.

"When the other team scores, it's hard to get up sometimes, only scoring one goal a game. I liked a lot of the things I saw this weekend," she said. "We scored two power play goals -- those were our first power play goals this year. We did some good things again, and we'll keep plugging away."

Connelly played in back-to-back games for the first time this season and was solid between the pipes.

"Liz played outstanding. Saturday, she gave us a chance to win the game, no question there. Sunday, she let a couple goals in the short side, which we've been working on. We've still got to work on covering the post," said Davidson. "Both games, she gave us a chance to win the hockey game, and we have to score more than one goal a game to win."

The Red returns home to Lynah on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest against Niagara, as it continues the bulk of its non-conference schedule. The icers will head up to Montreal at the beginning of January for the Concordia Tournament and will play a two-game set at Findlay the following week.