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ITHACA, N.Y. – Returning from a weekend off the No.3 Cornell women's hockey team welcomes another nationally-ranked opponent to Lynah Rink as it plays host to No. 7 Boston College on Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday Nov. 30.
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
    Cornell last played on Nov. 16 at Dartmouth when it doubled up the Big Green 4-2 with three first-period goals and three power-play scores throughout the course of the game. The night before, the Big Red tallied three goals in the third period to come from behind and earn a 3-3 tie with Harvard in Boston. The Big Red has the number one scoring offense averaging 4.50 goals per game thanks, in large part, to the top line of Jessica Campbell, Emily Fulton and Jillian Saulnier with continued its offensive production, each generating two point a piece against Harvard. At least one of three factored in to three of the teams four goals at Dartmouth. Rookie Hanna Bunton led the Big Red to its victory in Hanover, with her first career three-point night on one goal and two assists. Her efforts, coupled with an assist on the team's first goal against the Crimson helped her garner ECAC Hockey's Rookie of the Week nod for the second straight week.
    The Big Red has a one-point lead over Harvard in the ECAC Hockey standings coming heading in to three non-conference games before the break. Cornell does not play another ECAC opponent until Jan. 3 at Brown.
    With North Dakota handing the reigning national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers a 3-2 loss on Nov. 17 and thus snapping the Gophers' 64-game winning streak, Cornell women's hockey is now the only unbeaten team in Division I at 8-0-2.     
 
HEAD COACH DOUG DERRAUGH '91
    Derraugh returned to his alma mater before the 2005-06 campaign to coach a team that the season before had tallied only four victories. Now in his ninth season, Derraugh has transformed the women's hockey program at Cornell into one that continues to be ranked among the nation's elite year after year. Derraugh's record at the helm of the program is an impressive 154-95-19 through the games at Harvard and Dartmouth two weeks ago; every ECAC championship and NCAA tournament appearance Big Red women's hockey has to its credit has come during his tenure. He earned his second ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year honor after leading the team to both a regular season and tournament championship in 2012-13.
 
    Returning as his assistants this season are Danielle Bilodeau '01 (eighth season) and Edith Racine (fifth season).
 
ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE
    The Eagles enter the weekend with an overall record of 11-3-1 and the nation's third-best scoring offense, producing 3.93 goals per game. They are 7-1-0 against Hockey East teams and have posted a 4-1-1 record against ECAC Hockey teams so far this season, beating St. Lawrence twice and Yale and Dartmouth once, while Quinnipiac handed the Eagles a 3-2 loss and Princeton earned a 1-1 tie. The team has scored five or more goals in seven games so far this season, including a season-high eight goals against Providence on Nov. 1. Sophomore forward Haley Skarupa, one of the nation's leading scorers, contributes a lot of offensive firepower for the Eagles. She's currently fifth in the nation in points per game averaging 1.53 (13-10—23), and she's second to Cornell's own Jillian Saulnier in goals per game (0.87). Four of her 13 goals have been power-play tallies.
 
THE SERIES WITH THE EAGLES
    Since first meeting the Eagles in the 1994-95 season, Cornell has built a 15-3-1 lead in the series.  After winning the first game between the teams, 3-2, in overtime the Big Red went on a 13-game unbeaten streak before the Eagles earned their first win – also in overtime – in January 2002. Boston College took the last meeting – yet another overtime decision – 4-3 in Boston on Jan. 13, 2013. The Eagles have never beat the Big Red at Lynah Rink, as they enter the two-game series 0-8 in Ithaca.
 
#IVYDIGITAL
    Every women's hockey home game for 2013-14 will be available on the network as well. The link to the game feed will be accessible in the minutes leading up to the scheduled start time. To purchase an Ivy League Digital Network pass go to http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/packages and select the package of your choice.
 
1000^th GAME
    Cornell's 4-2 win over Dartmouth on Nov. 16 was the 1000^th  game in program history and win number 489 for the Big Red.   
 
REPEAT ROOKIE
    Freshman Hanna Bunton was named ECAC Hockey's Rookie of the Week for the second week in a row after putting together a four-point weekend against Harvard and Dartmouth on the road. Bunton picked up the lone assist on Jessica Campbell's goal just 41 seconds into the third period that start the Big Red's comeback. Against the Big Green the following night she had a hand in three of Cornell's four goals, scoring one and assisting on two others for the first three-point night of her young career. With two goals and seven assists for nine points, Bunton is currently ranked sixth among the nation's rookies in points per game (0.90).
 
TAKING ADVANTAGE
    The Big Red tallied another four power-play goals two weeks ago to hold tight as the number one power-play team in ECAC Hockey at 37.5 percent against conference opponents. The team is also first in the nation at 33.3 percent (15-45).
    Saturday's three power-play goals against Dartmouth marked the fourth time this season the Big Red had scored that many goals with the man advantage, having also notched three special teams goals against Northeastern, St. Lawrence and Union. After adding another power-play goal against Dartmouth, sophomore defenseman Cassandra Poudrier leads the team with three man-advantage tallies this season.
 
NATIONAL NUMBERS
·         Fulton (2.20), Campbell (1.80) and Saulnier (1.80) each moved up in the points per game category. Fulton leads all scores, while Campbell and Saulnier are tied at number two.
·         Saulnier's 1.10 goals per game average is the best in the nation. Fulton is third (0.80).
·         Fulton (1.40) and Campbell (1.30) are one-two, respectively, in assists per game.
·         Hayleigh Cudmore (1.10) and Alyssa Gagliardi (1.00) are three-four, respectively, in points per game by defensemen.
·         Cornell's combined special teams percentage of 60.9 is second behind league rival Harvard (63.7).
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
·         A win against Boston College would give netminder Lauren Slebodnick her 60^th victory.
·         Two-point weekends by Saulnier and Gagliardi would help them to 115 and 70 points, respectively.
·         Gagliardi will play in her team-leading 115^th game this weekend.  
·         Cassandra Poudrier needs just one point to reach 25.
 
CORNELL IN THE POLLS
    Last week Cornell grabbed one first-place vote from the Minnesota Golden Gophers in both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and retained its third-place ranking. The team has been consistently ranked in both polls since the preseason when it started at number four and six, respectively. Cornell was the highest-ranked team in ECAC Hockey last week, staying ahead of Quinnipiac (5/6), Harvard (6/5) and Clarkson (8/8). In spite of their recent loss to North Dakota, the Minnesota Golden Gophers maintain their first-place ranking.
 
55 & COUNTING...
    After earning two wins in Cornell's ECAC Hockey opening weekend, senior Lauren Slebodnick is now the winningest goaltender in Cornell history. She passed former teammate Amanda Mazzotta's previous record of 53 wins with a 6-3 victory over No. 5 Clarkson. The win against St. Lawrence the following afternoon was number 55. Heading into this weekend's two-game set versus Boston College Slebodnick has a career record of 59-8-4.
 
100-POINT CLUB
    Junior forward Jillian Saulnier reached the 100-point mark with two goals and one assist against Clarkson on Oct. 25. She is the only player on the Big Red roster this season with more than 100 points (43-70--113).
 
PRESEASON HONORS
    Junior forward Jillian Saulnier was the lone Big Red player named to ECAC Hockey's preseason All-League team.  In addition to her ECAC Hockey Second Team honors last season, the Halifax, Nova Scotia native dished out a career-high 33 assists. Four of her 10 goals were game-winners, and she finished the season 14th in the country in points per game (1.43) and fifth in the nation in assists per game (1.10). She was also a Patty Kazmaier Award nominee last season.
 
ALL-LEAGUE RETURNERS
    In addition to her ECAC Hockey Second Team honors, Jillian Saulnier was also named to the All-Ivy League First Team following last season. She is joined by goaltender Lauren Slebodnick (ECAC Third Team) and defenseman Cassandra Poudrier (ECAC All-Rookie Team) as Cornell's all-league returning cast for 2013-2014.
 
SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES
    Seniors Jessica Campbell and Alyssa Gagliardi – who was an alternate captain for Cornell in 2012-13 – will serve as co-captains for the Big Red this season. Cornell's captain last season was senior Lauriane Rougeau, while her classmate Laura Fortino joined Gagliardi as an alternate. The last time the Big Red had co-captains without alternates was in the 2009-10 season with Liz Zorn and Kelly McGinty both wearing the C. Liz Zorn is the older sister of current Big Red sophomore Anna Zorn.
 
BETWEEN THE PIPES
    After serving as a primary backup to former netminder Amanda Mazzotta, senior Lauren Slebodnick found a home in the paint for the Big Red last season. She started 31 games for Cornell, posting a 24-6-1 record with 1.55 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. She enters her senior campaign as Cornell's program leader in both categories and is also the program leader in wins (59). Backing up Slebodnick this season will be sophomore Stefannie Moak and freshman Paula Voorheis.
 
CORNELL IN THE OLYMPICS
    The Big Red is notably without leading scorer Brianne Jenner this season, who has taken the year off from Cornell to compete as a member of Team Canada in hopes of joining her native country in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 winter games. Jenner, along with former Big Red teammates Laura Fortino, Lauriane Rougeau and Rebecca Johnston, was named to Canada's centralization roster in April. The final nominations for the Olympic squad are set to take place in December.
 
THE NEWCOMERS
    The class of 2017 is forward heavy, as four of the six will be expected to make immediate contributions on offense for the Big Red. The remaining two, defender Sydney Smith and goaltender Paula Voorheis, will be guided  by the standout seniors in their respective positions so that they can play important roles for the Big Red in the years to come. Voorheis and classmates Caroline DeBruin and Brianna Veerman all come to East Hill from the Aurora Junior Panthers.
 
THE BREAKDOWN
    The Big Red roster is made up of four seniors, three juniors, eight sophomores and six freshmen. Seventeen of the 21 active players are Canadian and represent six provinces: Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The four remaining players are
    Americans, hailing from North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York and Ohio.
 
UP NEXT
    Cornell will finish out its first-semester schedule when it travels up I-81 to face off against Syracuse, Dec. 3 at the War Memorial. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.