HAMDEN, Conn. – The women’s hockey team jumped out to a 3-0 lead at No. 8 Quinnipiac on Friday night only to see the Bobcats claw their way back and force overtime before the game ended in a tie, 3-3, with each team taking away a valuable ECAC Hockey point.
The first five minutes of the first period were played primarily in the neutral zone, with neither team connecting on passes or generating chances going into the offensive zone.
Cornell began to maintain some puck possession and sustained pressure in the Quinnipiac end five minutes into the game but still couldn’t find clean shooting lanes.
It was the Bobcats that began to get the first shots on goal, but sophomore Marlène Boissonnault answered and stayed alert, making a slick glove save when Emma Greco created a shooting lane and fired a slap shot and then squaring up to Sarah Couto-Godbout in the slot.
Quinnipiac (9-4-2, 4-2-1 ECAC Hockey) earned a power-play with just under five minutes to play in the opening frame yet it would turn out to be more fruitful for Cornell (5-2-1, 3-2-1 ECAC Hockey).
Senior Hanna Bunton beat a winger to the hash marks and fired a clearing shot that redirected off of a Bobcat stick into open ice at the line. Freshman Kristin O’Neill pounced on the puck and found herself with open ice to the net, where she deked Rossman down to the right with her backhand and then finished the puck forehand before the goaltender could recover.
It was O’Neill’s third shorthanded goal of the season – tying a program record for shorthanded goals in a season – and seventh overall.
As the second period started, the Bobcats fired some shots on goal but Boissonnault controlled the flurry and gave momentum back to the Big Red going the other way.
Freshman defender Jaime Bourbonnais got the puck near the blue line and was able to skate with and turn a Bobcat along the top of the circle so she could fire a shot with her forehand. The puck surprised a screened Rossman and the puck squeaked through her legs for a 2-0 lead 3:34 into the period.
The Big Red kept pushing and and pushing and eventually earned its first man-advantage of the game. Sophomore co-captain Micah Hart walked across the blue line and snapped a shot towards the front of the goal that found its way past Rossman’s right pad.
Quinnipiac then made a change between the pipes – with Abbie Ives coming in for Rossman – and it sparked the Bobcat offense.
Kate MacKenzie was able to force a rebound past Boissonnault at 14:13 and then three minutes later, Melissa Samoskevich wristed a shot as she crossed a blue line that caught Boissonnault and got between her legs to make it a one goal game entering the break.
The Bobcats opened the third period with their third unanswered goal when Couto-Godbout fed Kenzie Prater at the right post for a tap in.
As time wound down, Cornell tried to find a fourth goal. Amy Curlew kept the puck in on the boards and then fed Paige Lewis across the crease only to have a stick lifted before a shot could be fired and then senior co-captain Kaitlin Doering fed Grace Graham in the circle and the freshman fired a quality shot but Ives saw it in all the way and sent the game to overtime.
The Bobcats had a few chances in the extra period but the Cornell defense put together a good performance, with junior defenseman Erin O’Connor and Hart making two big blocks and Boissonnault making two saves.
Boissonnault (3-0-1) finished with 20 saves for the Big Red while Rossman made five before giving way to Ives) (0-0-1, who made nine.
Cornell will travel to Princeton tomorrow to take on the Tigers in another ECAC Hockey matchup at Hobey Baker Rink.
