PITTSBURGH, Pa. — For the second straight game, the No. 7/7 Cornell women’s hockey team worked its way back from an early 2-0 deficit. Though, unlike in its previous game against Princeton which ended in a 2-2 tie, the Big Red scored five unanswered goals to earn the 5-2 win over Robert Morris Friday afternoon at Colonials Arena. With the triumph, Cornell improved to 6-1-3 on the season, while Robert Morris fell to 6-8-3.
Four of the Big Red’s five goals came in the second period, with two of them credited to Willow Slobodzian. The sophomore defenseman had a total of three career goals entering the matchup. Her two goals came in the matter of 49 seconds.
Despite recording a total of 14 shots, the Big Red was held off the board in the first frame. Cornell fired off a total of 20 shots before it found the back of the net.
Cornell’s first goal came from Grace Graham penalty shot. The junior forward, who now has three goals on the season, skated up the right side before inching back closer to net. By the time she was a few paces in front of the net she had pulled Robert Morris goaltender Arielle DeSmet to the right and Graham fired past her into the back of the net to bring the Big Red within one with 11:14 left in the second quarter.
“We got off to a rough start getting down early in the game,” head coach Doug Derraugh said. “The penalty shot goal I thought was a big momentum swing for us. Our power play got us back on track tonight as well. Robert Morris plays a very strong team game. We will have to execute better tomorrow from start to finish.”
Slobozian evened the score with her first tally of the season on a power play goal with 5:43 left in the second. The Clavet, Saskatchewan, native planted herself to left of the post, while the Big Red tossed the puck around the opposite side. Then, Lenka Serdar sent the puck through three Robert Morris players to connect with Slobodzian. With DeSmet covering the right side, Slobodzian put home the easy goal to even the score at two apiece.
Less than a minute later, Slobodzian netted her second goal of the afternoon. The sophomore fielded a pass from Kristin O’Neill near the blue line and brought the puck forward to the left circle before firing the puck to the back of the net. The goal proved to be the game-winner, the first-ever of Slobodzian’s career.
The Big Red found itself on the power play again with 3:36 left in the period after the Colonials were called for having too many players on the ice. Maddie Mills scored on a missile from near the blue line. The one-timer made its way over the shoulder of DeSmet in net to put the Big Red up 4-2.
The Big Red converted on two of the six power play chances they had against Robert Morris.
Jamie Bourbonnais added the exclamation mark with an empty-netter with 2:11 remaining in the contest.
Five goals is the most for the Big Red in a game this season. It has scored at least three goals in seven of its 10 games.
The Colonials got on the board first with a power play goal from Amber Rennie with 5:22 left in the period. They added to their lead with a goal from Caitlyn Sadowy just over five and a half minutes into the second period.
Lindsay Browning made her second start of the season in between the pipes and picked up her first career win. The Penfield, New York, native had a total of 24 saves on 26 shots saved.
The Big Red returns to action at 3:05 p.m. Saturday for another bout with Robert Morris in Pittsburgh.
