ITHACA, N.Y. – The No. 7 women’s hockey team dropped a tough 3-1 decision to No. 1 Wisconsin on Friday night at Lynah Rink. The Badgers were up 3-0 until Maddie Mills scored for Cornell late in the second period to put a point up for the Big Red.
“I was really proud of their effort tonight,” said head coach Doug Derraugh. “After the game I told them that they played with a lot of heart and a lot of passion. Just understanding that again, whether it be a miscue on a couple of plays and understanding and knowing your job – which is tough at this time of year too because they haven’t been in a ton of game situations – it gets exposed against a team like Wisconsin.”
Sophia Shaver scored the first two goals for UW (15-0-0, 8-0-0 WCHA) as she took advantage of a deflection right in front of the net 11 minutes and 43 seconds into the first period. The score marked the first time this season that Cornell (3-2-0, 3-1-0 ECAC) has conceded a goal within the first 20 minutes of action.
Shaver struck again just 16 seconds into the second frame off of another deflection right in front of the net to power Wisconsin to a 2-0 lead. Alexis Mauermann closed out the scoring for the Badgers about seven minutes later on a power play after a shot by the sophomore traveled up and over goaltender Marlene Boissonnault to light the lamp.
“Playing the top team in the country was going to be a big challenge for our young team,” said Derraugh. “I thought the effort was very good tonight. They made us pay on a couple of our mistakes tonight. I think for our young team to understand that you not only need to play with effort, but to also have deft, consistency in you decision making and can’t fall asleep on any shifts. There were a couple of miscues and Wisconsin made us pay.”
The Big Red would get on the board with just over three minutes left to play in the second frame as Mills recorded her third-career goal. The goal-scoring sequence began as Kristin O’Neill intercepted a puck in the far circle of the offensive zone and found the freshman untouched towards the right side of the net. Mills then sent in a one-timer that went over Wisconsin’s Kristen Campbell’s glove for the score.
Mills is currently riding on a three-game point streak after earning an assist against Quinnipiac and following that up with a power play goal versus Princeton.
Despite getting off to a slow start in the first period after only logging four shots, the team turned it up a notch in the second and third frames to pepper the net with 18 shots to garner a total of 22 throughout the game.
Cornell’s defensive efforts also did well taming the Badgers’ potent offense in the final 20 minutes of the game, battling it out to a scoreless final period.
Boissonnault had quite the game herself in between the pipes as she notched a career-high 31 saves while Campbell made 21.
The Big Red and the Badgers will be back at Lynah Rink tomorrow, Nov. 11, for the series finale. The puck is set to drop at 3 p.m.
“Overall we were pleased with the execution of a lot of things we did tonight. But obviously the power play we need to execute better. We had our opportunities to get ourselves back in the game and missed on a couple of miscues. I thought we had some good looks on the power play, we just weren’t able to cash in on them. But I think that that’s one area that you’re going to have to have success on to be with a team like Wisconsin.”
