Box Score Box Score

BOSTON – This one only took 60 minutes.
 
Seven months after a triple-overtime marathon in Lynah Rink that ended with an 8-7 Cornell victory, the No. 2 Big Red decided things considerably earlier at Agganis Arena on Saturday night, opening its season with a 5-2 victory over No. 3 Boston University.
 
Freshmen Anna Zorn and Taylor Woods got the scoring started, sophomores Emily Fulton and Monika Leck had a goal each, and junior Jessica Campbell notched an empty netter with just under a minute left to seal the victory.
 
“It's a big victory for us, and more importantly I thought we played a very solid game considering we've only been on the ice two weeks now,” Cornell coach Doug Derraugh said.
 
Lauren Slebodnick, playing the game in front of family from nearby Manchester, N.H., ended the game with 25 saves total including 13 in the frantic second period to earn the win.
 
The teams play another game at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Walter Brown Arena. Cornell (1-0) has now won four consecutive contests against BU (4-1) including that triple-overtime thriller in the NCAA Quarterfinals in March.
 
Though the game only went 60 minutes this time, the offenses took a full 20 to get going.
 
The Big Red got two power play chances in the first period but was unable to capitalize on either, though the team did go into the first intermission with a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal.
 
In the second, though, the puck started finding the back of the net for both sides.
 
BU got on the board first as Marie-Philip Poulin took a pass from Jill Cardella, spun in front, and beat Slebodnick five hole as she did not see where the puck was.
 
Just 55 seconds later, though, the Big Red got on the board with Anna Zorn's first career goal. The play began when Jillian Saulnier took the puck down the right side of the ice. Entering the zone and cutting toward the net, she took a chance that drew Kerrin Sperry out of her net. Alyssa Gagliardi and Zorn were there for clean-up attempts on a bouncing puck, and both swatted at the puck with Zorn getting the last touch.
 
The Terriers responded quickly as Cardella got a goal of her own in the seventh minute of the period. A shot from the point by Sarah Lefort was stopped in front, and the loose puck trickled out to Cardella, who knocked it home.
 
Freshman Taylor Woods re-tied the game at 2-2 less than two minutes later on the penalty kill, bringing the puck in from the right side and sniping the puck over Sperry's left shoulder for a shorthanded strike with Morgan Richardson in the box.
 
“The goal on the penalty kill I thought was a big one for us,” Derraugh said. “[The freshmen] logged a lot of minutes. …”
 
Emily Fulton had a shot ring off the post just moments before Woods' goal, and she would get her own shorthanded goal 62 seconds after Woods to give the Big Red its first lead of the night. Taking the puck in toward goal, her shot was saved by Sperry. The loose puck bounced out in front, though, and went off Cardella into the open net for what would prove to be the game-winner.
 
The third period saw stout defense from the Big Red's blue liners as they allowed the Terriers to take just seven shots on goal and killed off one BU power play. Monika Leck scored to give the Big Red some insurance, deflecting a Gagliardi shot from the blue line past Sperry.
 
The Terriers pulled their goalie with a minute remaining, and Campbell capitalized with the empty netter to give the Big Red its fifth goal.
 
The Big Red and the Terriers will meet again on Sunday at 2 p.m.