LYNAH RINK -- Big Red Women’s Hockey continued to steamroll its way through the ECAC, defeating Colgate at home on Friday, 2-0.
Senior Paige Lewis contributed the first goal of the afternoon, as a pass from Colgate’s goalie mistakenly went straight into the hands of senior Grace Graham, who fed Lewis for the score with about 12 minutes remaining in the first period.
The Big Red outshot Colgate 37-16, but were only able to find the back of the net twice. The second goal was scored by Graham with 9 minutes left in the second period, who continued her excellent play with an assist and a goal on the day after 4 points in last weekend’s game against Harvard. After a struggle in front of Colgate’s goal, Graham found the puck and tapped it in from a few feet out, with Lewis and senior Jaime Bourbonnais assisting.
Despite most of the shots not falling, Cornell was able to maintain their composure throughout the game. “We know after the first period, we need to maintain that energy and focus, and I think our team’s been doing a really good job of keeping up the pressure and definitely still working hard throughout the second and the third [period],” said Lewis. Graham added, “We’ve been talking a lot [about] playing a full 60 minutes, and I think that was a very important part of our success for the past few games.”
Their defense was extremely strong, killing 5 power plays, and junior goalie Lindsay Browning achieved her second shutout in a row, which was her 7th of the season and 8th overall. “Lindsay’s been unreal… she stops basically anything that comes her way and I think we really trust her back there,” Lewis added. Her 8 career shutouts currently rank 7th in Cornell Women’s Hockey history.
“In a game like tonight when you’re having trouble scoring, as long as you’re strong defensively, you can still come out on top,” said Coach Doug Derraugh of the team’s efforts.
Cornell takes on Colgate again in Hamilton tomorrow at 3pm.