HAMILTON – Cat Quirion (Lac-Megantic, Quebec) scored the game-winning goal with 1:04 left in the third period Tuesday night to complete the Colgate women’s ice hockey team’s comeback 2-1 victory over rival Cornell at Class of 1965 Arena.
With the win, Colgate improves to 8-0-1 to extend its unbeaten streak to nine games and set a new program record. The Raiders previous unbeaten streak program record was eight games from Jan. 10-31, 2008.
Shae Labbe (Calgary, Alberta) started the game-winning play when she won a battle for the puck along the boards in the defensive zone. She sent puck up to the neutral zone where the puck found Jessie Eldridge’s (Barrie, Ontario) stick. Eldridge burst with speed into the offensive zone, carrying the puck to the nearside post. Eldridge drew in a diving defender, as well as Cornell goaltender Paula Voorheis, before feeding Quirion the puck with a quick backhand pass at the back door for the game-winning goal.
Lauren Wildfang (Waterdown, Ontario) scored the game-tying goal for the Raiders with 6:19 left in the third period, just over five minutes before Quirion’s game-winning goal. Cornell attempted to clear the puck out of the defensive zone but Shelby Perry (Elginburg, Ontario) was positioned perfectly on the forecheck to keep it in. Perry tapped the puck back to Wildfang, who skated into the high slot where she fired the puck past Voorheis’ blocker side and through an excellent screen by Labbe.
Colgate and Cornell were scoreless through the first two periods with the Raiders outshooting the Big Red, 22-18. Julia Vandyk (Cambridge, Ontario) made one of the biggest saves of the day after the Big Red was awarded a penalty shot. Hanna Bunton took the penalty shot and tried to catch Vandyk off guard by skating to the left shot but shooting with her backhand in the middle of the goal. Vandyk stood up to the test, thwarting Bunton’s attempt.
Vandyk finished the game with 31 saves on the 32 Big Red shots, her second 30-plus save game of the season.
The Big Red jumped out to a 1-0 led just 27 seconds into the third period on Kristin O’Neill’s fourth goal of the season. Bunton had a shot saved by Vandyk before Brianna Veerman attempted to put home the rebound. Vandyk made another save on Veerman’s shot before the puck scooted out to O’Neill who roofed it in the open left corner.
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 2, Cornell 1
WON-LOST RECORDS
The Raiders extend their program-record unbeaten streak to nine games to improve to 8-0-1 (3-0-0 ECAC Hockey) while the Big Red fall to 3-2-0 (1-2-0 ECAC Hockey) with their second loss in the last three games.
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Cat Quirion scored her second game-winning goal and third goal of the season
-Lauren Wildfang’s game-tying goal was her third goal of the season
-Jessie Eldridge extended her six-game point streak with her 11th assist of the season
-Eldridge is currently tied for first in ECAC Hockey with 11 assists and second with 15 points
-Shae Labbe picked up her sixth assist of the season on Quirion’s game-winning goal
-Perry recorded her third assist of the season and 20th of her career
-Vandyk made 31 saves for her fifth career 30-plus save game
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate and Cornell were knotted up in shots at 32 apiece, with the Raiders holding a 22-18 edge through the first two periods
-Both teams were 0 for 3 on the power play and no penalties were called in the third period
-Colgate’s come-from-behind victory was its fourth such win of the season
-Cornell won 28 faceoffs compared to Colgate’s 25 despite Brianne Wilson-Bennett (Markham, Ontario) winning a game-high 11 faceoffs.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Greg Fargo
“To be honest, I thought it was like a typical Colgate-Cornell game. I keep saying this every time we play them but its always back and forth, and generally comes down to the last minute or overtime to see who’s going to win the game – tonight was no exception.
Good game overall, could have gone either way. Some of our players made a great play at the end to finish it off.”
To hear the rest of Greg Fargo’s interview, click here.
UP NEXT
The Raiders return to action this weekend with a home and home series against the RIT Tigers, starting Friday at the Gene Polisseni Center with puck drop set for 6 p.m. before returning to Class of 1965 Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m. against the Tigers.
