CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Holding a 3-2 lead with under a minute left, the No. 4 Cornell women’s hockey team could not seal a victory at No. 3 Boston College and instead fell 4-3 in overtime at Conte Forum on Sunday afternoon.
Eagles right wing Haley Skarupa scored her second goal of the contest with 43.3 seconds left in the game, and a stellar individual effort by Emily Field 1:31 into overtime gave the homestanding Eagles a come-from-behind victory in a matchup between two teams that made the Frozen Four last season.
Cornell (11-4) got goals from three right wings – Victoria Pittens, Emily Fulton and Monika Leck – but the high-scoring Eagles (16-3-2) showed resilience in picking up the résumé-boosting win and extending their current winning streak to 12 games.
The Big Red, which allowed 12 shots in the first period, played progressively better throughout the game and gave up just six shots in the second period and eight in the third. But the eighth shot in the third – Skarupa’s goal – and the Eagles’ only shot in overtime were enough to hand Lauren Slebodnick (8-4) her fourth loss of the year despite 23 saves.
The game began all wrong for the Big Red as the Eagles – with the nation’s second-best offense at 4.85 goals per game – scored just 15 seconds in. With the puck in the right corner of the BC offensive zone, Alex Carpenter got the puck and brought it out to the slot. She took a quick shot that Slebodnick saved, but the rebound went into a dangerous area where Melissa Bizzari picked it up for the open-net goal.
Cornell got things evened up 16 minutes later when Pittens got just the second goal of her Big Red career. After a beautiful keep-in by a diving Cassandra Poudrier, Hayleigh Cudmore dumped the puck down low to Erin Barley-Maloney. The senior brought the puck back out and found a streaking Pittens, who had speed in the slot and fired high over the glove of Corinne Boyles for the equalizer.
The Big Red took its first lead of the game in the second period as Brianne Jenner set up a laser shot by Fulton. Skating up the right side after taking a pass off the boards, Jenner had three BC players in front of her. She entered the offensive zone, cut back, and dropped off a pass to Fulton, who was coming in behind. Fulton ripped one over Boyles’ left shoulder and put Cornell ahead 2-1.
The Eagles re-tied the game with a power play goal by Haley Skarupa five minutes later, but Leck allowed Cornell to regain the lead with a goal at the 18:21 mark of the period. This one was again set up by quality passing as Leck found Taylor Woods down low. Woods went behind the net, circled back and found Leck skating toward the goal with a backhand pass. Leck had momentum behind her and fired far side to get it past Boyles for the 3-2 lead. Cornell’s three goals saw seven different players pick up points.
That would be the final tally for the Big Red, though, as Boyles did not allow any of Cornell’s 10 third-period shots to find twine.
With just over a minute left, Boyles left her net on the other end of the ice as the Eagles took possession. After multiple failed clearing attempts by the Big Red, BC captain Blake Bolden wound up with the puck on her stick at the left point. She wound up for what looked like a shot, but instead passed to an open Skarupa in the slot. Skarupa reached out her stick and chipped the puck over Slebodnick, sending the game to overtime.
Once in overtime, Cornell got the first shot on goal by Hayleigh Cudmore, but the Eagles took over from there. Cornell lost possession of the puck, and Field brought it up ice on the right side. Crossing into the offensive zone, Field went to the left side and kept the puck on her stick with a Big Red defenseman in front of her. Coming all the way over to the left side, Field ripped a wrist shot from the circle that beat Slebodnick, sending the home fans happy.
The Big Red still holds a 15-3-1 record all-time against BC.
Cornell is back on the ice on Tuesday night, hosting Syracuse at 7 p.m. in Lynah Rink for its first home game in nearly two full months.
