ITHACA, N.Y. – The women’s hockey team got all of its goals from the Class of 2020 and senior goaltender Paula Voorheis made 21 saves to earn her eighth career shutout to help lift Cornell over Harvard, 3-0, on Friday afternoon. Freshman forward Amy Curlew scored her first career goal while classmates Jaime Bourbonnais and Valérie Audet potted their third and fourth of the year, respectively. The shutout moved Voorheis into fifth-place all-time in program history.
The first period of the game wasn’t fruitful for either team, with neither Cornell (7-4-1, 5-2-1 ECAC Hockey) or Harvard (1-9-0, 1-5-0 ECAC Hockey) able to maintain possession. Voorheis was solid in net for the Big Red during the first frame when she was tested, though, and made 11 saves in the period.
Harvard got the first big chance of the game when Val Turgeon broke into the Cornell zone by herself and tried to go top-shelf on Voorheis but the senior was able to shoulder the puck away to keep it scoreless. As time wound down in the period and Harvard worked a power-play, the senior was there again when she made a big pad save on a one-timer from Sydney Daniels.
The Crimson came out with energy at the start of the second but still couldn’t get the puck past Voorheis – who somehow got her glove on a hard shot from Bradley Fusco in the slow slot – and the momentum soon turned the Big Red’s way.
Cornell earned a power-play halfway through the period and fired six shots on goal and despite Molly Tissenbaum standing tall for Harvard between the pipes and stopping them all, the Big Red continued to push for the game’s first goal and found it at the 15:14 mark.
Sophomore Lenka Serdar centered a pass from her spot on the left board and classmate Pippy Gerace was able to knock it towards the goal where Audet pounced on the puck and slapped a backhand into the net past a diving Tissenbaum with her second goal of the season.
Cornell held on to the momentum heading into the third and went up 2-0 just 1:05 into the first period on Curlew’s first career goal.
With the Big Red on the power-play, sophomore co-captain Micah Hart took the puck at the point and found Bourbonnais halfway down the left boards. Bourbonnais whipped a pass through the slot to Curlew for a one-time finish at the right post and the two goal lead.
Bourbonnais found her own goal with under three minutes to go, with Curlew repaying the assist.
Senior Hanna Bunton took a shot that deflected behind the net and Curlew did well to dig it out and center it through the crease for Bourbonnais, who had a wide-open net for her third of the year.
Bourbonnais and Curlew each finished with a goal and assist for the first multi-point games of their careers while Audet, Gerace, Serdar, Hart and Bunton each tallied a point.
Tissenbaum (0-6-0) finished with 23 saves for the Crimson while Voorheis (4-3-0) finished with 21, including 14 in the second period.
Cornell outshot Harvard, 26-21, while the Crimson edged the Big Red at the dot, 26-25.
The Big Red will take to the Lynah ice again tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. when it squares off against the Dartmouth Big Green.
