Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- History was made on Friday night at Lynah Rink, as the Cornell women's hockey team claimed a share of its first-ever ECAC Hockey championship with a 2-1 victory over Rensselaer. Hayley Hughes and Karlee Overguard scored goals for the Big Red on the night.

With Cornell's win and Clarkson's 4-1 loss to Dartmouth, the Big Red can finish no worse than tied for first atop the league standings. Cornell currently has a two-point lead in the league race and needs only a tie against last-place Union on Saturday to clinch the title outright and the top seed in the ECAC Hockey tournament.

Overguard added an assist for the multi-point game for the Big Red, while Melanie Jue and Catherine White both added an assist. Amanda Mazzotta stopped 13 shots in the contest for the Big Red, which went scoreless in two power-play attempts.

For Rensselaer, Laura Gersten scored the only goal of the game, with Sydney O'Keefe and Amanda Castignetti both picking up assists. Sonja van der Bliek stopped 25 shots in taking the loss for the Engineers, who went scoreless in two power-play chances.

Cornell got on the board first at the 15:47 mark of the first period when Hughes took a pass from Overguard and put the puck past van der Bliek. Rensselaer knotted the score 5:16 into the second period when Gersten tallied her even-strength goal, but it was Overguard's heroics midway through the third period that lifted the Big Red to the victory.

Catherine White started the play by winning the puck along the half wall to van der Bliek's left and sending a pass to the front of the crease to a wide-open Overguard, who jammed the puck home for the 2-1 lead. From there, Cornell sealed the game away, with Mazzotta making four saves in the third period for the victory.

Cornell will try to win the league championship outright with either a win or a tie against last-place Union when the two teams meet on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Lynah Rink. Following the game, the Big Red's four seniors will be honored on the ice, and the team will be presented with the Ivy League trophy, which Cornell won for the first time since 1996 last weekend.