W. Icers Visit St. Lawrence

After a two-game homestand, the women's hockey team will head back out on the road this weekend, as it travels up to the North Country to take on No. 7 St. Lawrence (12-6-3, 4-3-1 ECAC) for a two-game set today at 7 p.m. and tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Red (1-11-1, 0-5-1 ECAC) was swept by No. 9 Mercyhurst last weekend at Lynah Rink.

Last Saturday, Mercyhurst scored two goals in a span of two minutes in the first period to jump out to the early lead. The Red cut that lead in half when freshman Caitlin Warren netted her second goal of the season. The score remained 2-1 until 18:46 of the third period when Mercyhurst lit the lamp again. Senior Sanya Sandahl was pulled to bring out the extra attacker, but the Lakers put one in the empty net to seal the victory at 4-1.

Senior Liz Connelly got the start for the Red in Sunday's game. The Lakers scored two power play goals in the first period while outshooting Cornell 14-4 in the period. Mercyhurst added another two goals in the second, firing 17 shots at Connelly in the period. The icers were unable to get on the board, and Mercyhurst grabbed a 4-0 shutout victory.

The Red will resume its conference schedule this weekend against the Saints and only has two non-conference games left this season. Currently, Cornell is tied for last place in the ECAC with Vermont, as neither team has won a conference game this season. The Red tied the Catamounts earlier this season at Lynah Rink, giving both teams only one point in the conference standings. Yale sits in eighth place with two points, having defeated Cornell in the Red's first game of the season. Eight of the nine ECAC teams will play in the postseason tournament, so the Red needs to pick up some more points as the season winds down in order to clinch an ECAC playoff spot.

"We've taken huge strides since the last time we played an ECAC game. I'm a little worried about all the stress they'll get going back to school now, but we're a much different team than we were before Christmas, and that's going to bode well," commented head coach Melody Davidson.

St. Lawrence traveled to Providence last weekend for a weekend series against Brown, coming away with one point after two tight contests. On Friday night, the Bears scored two goals in each of the first two periods to grab a 4-1 lead over the Saints. St. Lawrence netted a goal in the last half of the second, added another one midway through the third to come within one goal. Brown's defense held firm, stopping the Saints on a 5-on-3 power play during the final two minutes of play to clinch the victory.

On Saturday, St. Lawrence gave up a two-goal lead in the third period, as Brown tied the game with less than three minutes to play to send the game to overtime. Neither team lit the lamp in the extra session, and the game ended in a tie.

St. Lawrence boasts a deep team, with nine players recording more than 10 points this season. Shannon Smith leads the team in assists and points with 15 and 24 respectively, while Chera Marshall leads the team in goals with nine. Rachel Barrie has played 20 games in net this season for the Saints, with an impressive 2.21 GAA and a .923 save percentage.

"St. Lawrence is going to be a good test. They're a very strong team, so hopefully we'll withstand that test," remarked Davidson.

The Red will travel to Orono, ME. for two games against Maine next weekend before returning home to face Ivy rivals Yale and No. 8 Princeton the following weekend.

No. 10 Mercyhurst Too Tough for W. Hockey

Playing its first home games in more than a month, the women's hockey team dropped two tough contests to No. 10 Mercyhurst 4-1 on Saturday and 4-0 yesterday. The Red (1-11-1, 0-5-1 ECAC) could not tack on another win after breaking a 12-game winless streak last weekend at Findlay. Mercyhurst (19-5-1) extended its winning streak to nine games and has not lost since the end of November.

The Lakers got on the board first when Samantha Shirley put one past senior Sanya Sandahl at 8:22. With junior Anita Khar in the box for roughing, Shirley notched her 10th goal of the season at 10:28 to put Mercyhurst up 2-0.

The Red would answer back at the end of the period. Freshman Caitlin Warren scored her second goal in as many games, with assists going to junior Sarah Carter and freshman Andrea Skinner. Warren's goal accounted for the Red's only shot of the period.

Neither team was able to light the lamp in the second period, as the Lakers outshot the Red 8-7. The game would remain 2-1 until the last two minutes of play, when Sara McDonald scored her 11th goal of the season at 18:46.

Sandahl was pulled after the Mercyhurst goal to bring out the extra attacker, but Jessica Dillabough was able to put a shot into the empty net to give the Lakers a 4-1 win. Sandahl finished with 17 saves and Desirae Clark made 10 saves for the Lakers

Both teams started different goalies yesterday, as senior Liz Connelly was in net for the Red, and Tiffany Ribble started for Mercyhurst. The Lakers would grab the lead in the first on a power play. K.C. Gallio knocked a rebound past Connelly for her second gnew of the season at 12:43.

"We knew what they were going to come at us with. They made some adjustments on the power play, and we didn't adjust as we should have. That hurt us early on," commented head coach Melody Davidson.

Britney Millar added another score for Mercyhurst on the power play, blasting a shot from the high slot by a screened Connelly at 18:38.

"[We needed to work on] adjusting from one type of power play to the other, and that's just experience and we talked about it between the first and the second periods," remarked Davidson. "We made the adjustment and kept them off the board after that."

Lyndsay Barch netted Mercyhurst's third goal at 3:23 after collecting a rebound on a wraparound shot. Davidson called a timeout shortly after the goal to try and regroup, but Mercyhurst came right back and scored its fourth goal. A shot from the high point was deflected to the right side of the net, and an open C.J. Ireland put the puck past Connelly at 8:18.

The Red had trouble on defense, as players were left open in front of the net on several occasions.

Connelly robbed Mercyhurst of another goal in the third, making a diving save with the Lakers on a man-advantage.

"[Liz] stood in there. She faced a lot of screened shots, a lot of different plays. I'm really happy with where she's at. She played an outstanding game last weekend as well, so she's settling in nicely," said Davidson.

Connelly made 37 saves for the Red, while Ribble stopped 13 for Mercyhurst. The Red was outshot 69 to 23 on the weekend.

"We need to work on the offensive side of the game. We graduated a lot of offense, and it's not something that comes naturally to everyone we have right now," commented Davidson. "Mercyhurst outshot a team last weekend 133-20 and outscored them 10-1, so we're pretty pleased with the effort we put forth. We'd like to put some more pucks in the net, but we're getting there," she continued.

The Red will hit the road again next weekend when it travels to No. 6 St. Lawrence for a weekend series in Canton. The icers will be home again to face No. 8 Princeton and Yale on Feb. 8 and 9.

Women Icers Notch First Win

The women's hockey team (1-9-1, 0-5-1 ECAC) continued its non-conference schedule over the winter break with games against Niagara and Findlay. The Red also participated in the Theresa Humes Tournament in Montreal hosted by Concordia, coming away with a third place finish in the eight-team draw.

The icers squared off against Niagara (10-9-3) at Lynah Rink for its final game of 2002 on Dec. 8. Senior Sanya Sandahl got the start in goal, but the Purple Eagles got on the board early as Jennifer Goulet notched a goal from the low slot 33 seconds into the game. The score remained 1-0 after the first period, as the Red outshot Niagara 7-6.

At 12:46 in the second period, Melissa Hamilton collected a rebound and put it past Sandahl to put the Purple Eagles up 2-0. Senior Liz Connelly replaced Sandahl in net shortly afterward, as head coach Melody Davidson had planned to have each goalie play a half of the game.

The Red had its share of scoring chances in the second period, with two breakaways and a shot that dinged off the right post.

Neither team put up a goal in the third stanza, but Niagara held the advantage in shots with 13 to Cornell's four. Jennifer Mascaro stopped 20 shots for the Purple Eagles to earn her first shutout of the season. Sandahl and Connelly each made 13 saves for the Red.

After the exam break, the Red traveled up to Montreal on Jan. 3 for the Theresa Humes Tournament. The icers opened the tournament against the University of Quebec, Trois-Rivieres. Freshman Jen Munhofen opened the scoring for the Red at 1:52 of the first period, but UQTR would tie the game on a power play goal 3:10 into the second period.

Senior captain Brooke Bestwick and Munhofen set up the Red's next two goals, with senior Lindsay Murao scoring on the power play at 10:52 of the second period and freshman Andrea Skinner adding a tally of her own less than two minutes later.

UQTR would score the next three goals, one coming at 15:33 in the second, and two more in the first 10 minutes of the third period. Bestwick tied the game with an unassisted goal at 14:58 and then assisted on sophomore Pearle Nerenberg's goal at 16:26 to give the Red a 5-4 lead. UQTR tied the game again 30 seconds later, and the game headed into overtime with the score five all.

Skinner would clinch the game for the Red in the extra session, scoring on a breakaway at 3:59 of the overtime period. Sandahl stopped 22 of 27 shots for the Red, while UQTR's Marie Andree Joneas stopped 59 of 65 shots.

"I was happy with the scoring chances we generated," said head coach Melody Davidson.

"Sanya was steady in goal, but I thought she could have been a little more consistent," she said.

The Red faced off against the Quebec Under-18 team in the semifinals the following day. Freshman Flora Vineberg made her first start this season for Cornell. Team Quebec scored on the power play at 11:48 in the first period, and the Red tied the game on a goal by senior Erin Ellis at 6:59 of the third period. Valeria Choutnard notched the game winner at 10:44 of the third period.

Vineberg and Francheska Perron of Team Quebec each stopped 23 shots in the game. Team Quebec advanced to the championship game against host Concordia and came away with a 5-4 win.

With the loss, the Red played Middlebury in the third place game on the final day of the tournament. The icers jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period as Munhofen and Murao found the back of the net at 1:37 and 9:02 respectively. Middlebury scored a goal in the second and third periods to tie the game and force an overtime period. Both teams had three shots during the 10-minute extra sessions, but neither found the back of the net, and the game went to a shootout.

"We have a shootout drill during the first practice every week, so the team was prepared," said Davidson.

Munhofen scored on the Red's first attempt, but Middlebury put one by Connelly to even the shootout at one. Junior Briana Jentner scored Cornell's second goal of the shootout, but Middlebury's final shooter beat Connelly to send the game to sudden victory shootout format.

Nerenberg scored on her attempt to seal the victory for Cornell as Connelly stopped Middlebury's attempt.

"All three contests were tight, edge of the seat games," said Davidson. "[The tournament] was a good test for us."

The Red traveled to Ohio last weekend for a two-game set against Findlay at Clauss Ice Arena. Vineberg started her first NCAA game for the Red. The Oilers got on the board late in the first period, as Nicole Richardson netted her second goal of the season. Melissa Oliver scored another goal for Findlay at 6:41 of the second period, and Cori Forbes would add the Oilers' third score in the third period to give Findlay the 3-0 win. Erin Blair recorded her first shutout of the season in goal, stopping 17 shots. Vineberg made 32 saves for the Red.

"It was a typical road game on Saturday. The team had bus-legs, and we lacked intensity and smartness," said Davidson.

On Sunday, Connelly started in net for the Red, while Blair started again in goal for Findlay. Neither team scored in the first two periods, as the Oilers outshot Cornell 17-10. Freshman Caitlin Warren scored on the power play at 4:33 of the third period and added an assist on Bestwick's power play goal at 11:49. Connelly's shutout bid was ruined, as Hilary Foord scored with the extra attacker at 19:46.

"We came to play on Sunday. We normally put together a great 40-minute effort, and today we were able to score a power play goal in the third and come back and score another one," said Davidson.

With the win over Findlay, the icers snapped a 12-game winless streak dating back to last season's ECAC playoffs. The Red will play its first home games of 2003 this weekend, as it faces off against No. 10 Mercyhurst on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Lynah Rink.