No. 5 Cornell scored five goals in the second frame against Union in Lynah Rink on Friday night and went on to an 8-1 victory over the Dutchwomen on Friday night.
In front of 871 fans on a night when the Big Red was supporting the Do It For Daron charity, Brianne Jenner had a four goals and two assists, Jillian Saulnier had a goal and two assists and Emily Fulton had a goal and two assists.Lauren Slebodnick was barely bothered in net, making only five saves as she earned her seventh consecutive victory.
“We came out really strong, and the main thing was we capitalized on all our chances,” senior defenseman Laura Fortino said. “Overall we were strong in all areas of the ice.”
The Big Red (18-4, 13-2) moved to a perfect 11-0 at Lynah Rink this year and won for the 17th straight time against the Dutchwomen. Cornell is also 8-1 against opposition from the Empire State this season.
Though Cornell outshot Union 13-0 in the first period, the team was only able to come away with one goal. Jenner got things going on offense early, taking a pass from Fortino and bringing the puck down close to the net on the right side. She sniped the puck past Shenae Lundberg, and it was 1-0 just 2:02 into the game. Olivia Cook got the secondary assist on the goal, recorded her first point since Feb. 11, 2011 against Brown.
That set off a completely dominant first period by the Big Red as it controlled all of the play except for two minutes of a penalty kill. By the time the first 20 minutes had expired, the Big Red had not allowed a Union shot. Cornell had not held an opponent to zero shots on goal in a period since Feb. 25, 2011 against Rensselaer.
In the second period, the Big Red cashed in on its shots at a higher rate, striking five times to head into the second intermission ahead 6-0.
Jenner had the first goal of the period a mere 51 seconds in, and Anna Zorn made it 3-0 just 10 seconds later. Cornell lost the faceoff after Jenner’s second goal, but Jess Brown picked up a Union turnover and sped into the offensive zone. Zorn was there for a centering pass, and she beat Lundberg high. The goal came on Zorn and Brown’s first shift since Dec. 1.
“It was pretty excited [to score] on my first shift back after being out for so long,” Zorn said. “[Brown] just picked the puck off the wall and made a great pass to me in the slot.”
Brown and Zorn each finished the night with two points.
Jenner completed her hat trick four minutes after that, giving her three on the season. She then assisted on Emily Fulton‘s goal at the 11:18 mark of the period and Saulnier’s goal at the 12:56 mark. Union switched goalkeepers at that point, opting for freshman Maddie Dahl. Dahl made three saves in the last seven minutes of the period to keep the game at 6-0.
Monika Leck got on the board in the third period, redirecting a rebound from a shot taken by Erin Barley-Maloney to make it 7-0. And Jenner added her fourth goal of the night at 9:04 of the final frame, taking the puck through multiple defenders from Cornell’s blue line and sneaking the puck five hole under Dahl.
The huge night for Jenner was her second six-point game of the season and her third hat trick of the year. She had a four-goal, two-assist night against Union on Nov. 16 and three goals against Syracuse on Jan. 15. Jenner also vaulted into the top 10 in Cornell history for career goals, going from off the list before the night started to tied with Chelsea Karpenko ’12 for eighth with her 68th career goal.
“What do you say?” Cornell coach Doug Derraugh said. “That last goal, she takes it from our blue line, goes through about three players and the goaltender to get it in. … She’s just a complete hockey player.”
Union’s lone tally came in the final two minutes of the contest as Jenner took a cross checking penalty. An attempted clear by Slebodnick went off the body of Union’s Courtney Turner in front, and Rebecca Babiak was in the right place to get the loose puck past Slebodnick.
