ITHACA, N.Y. — Freshman forward Kristin O’Neill scored on a penalty shot with 4:24 left in the third period to lift the #7 women’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Colgate on Friday afternoon in Game 1 of an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink.
In her first game since being named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, O’Neill was able to celebrate in style on Friday. She drew the opportunity by working her way through defenders before being hauled down on a breakaway. On the penalty shot, she pulled up a couple feet shy of the crease to get Colgate goalie Julia Vandyk to the ice, then slammed a forehand by her right pad for the winner. It was her team-leading 13th goal of the season.
Despite being outshot in the first period, 9-6, Cornell did have the better of the chances, the most dangerous of which came when freshman O’Neill tipped a shot in the slot only to have Vandyk fight it off with her right shoulder. Neither team was able to get into an offensive groove during the first period and for the third consecutive meeting between Cornell and Colgate, the teams entered the first break scoreless.
Colgate (22-10-3), which is the league’s sixth seed, opened the scoring early in the second period when Olivia Zafuto’s 50-foot shot from the left point sailed through traffic and over the glove of Cornell (18-7-5) goalie Paula Voorheis. It would be only shot to beat Voorheis on the day — she finished with 31 saves to earn her 40th career win.
The third-seeded Big Red equalized at the 9:15 mark of the second period on Diana Buckley’s seventh goal of the year. Senior forward Hanna Bunton started the play on the rush, entering the zone on the right wing. Her cross-ice pass set up a shot from senior forward Kaitlin Doering toward the inside of the left circle. Vandyk made the initial save, but Buckley was positioned on top of the crease to swat in the rebound on the backhand.
Cornell’s chances were limited in the third period until O’Neill’s game-winning conversion, and then Voorheis and the defense kept the Raiders at bay for the remainder of the game with several multiple-save sequences and blocked shots. With under 30 seconds to play, Colgate tried to slam one home but the co-captain Micah Hart laid out for her game-leading fourth block of the game and then Voorheis made a chest save on the follow-up bid to preserve the win.
Colgate had the final edge in shots on goal, 32-24, and Cornell held the edge at the face-off dot, 33-28, and blocked 17 total shots. Vandyk made 22 saves in goal and moved to 20-10-2 while Voorheis bumped to 8-6-3.
It was the third consecutive game between the teams to end with a 2-1 score and the sixth-straight to be decided by one goal or less.
With win, third-seeded Cornell can now close out the series with another victory at 3 p.m. Saturday in Game 2, which will also be at Lynah Rink. If necessary, Game 3 would be at 3 p.m. Sunday.
