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 155-96-19 through the games against Boston College last weekend; 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 SYRACUSE
Tuesday's game against the Big Red is the first of three December contests for the Orange. Currently 7-6-2 on the season, the team is coming off a 2-1 win a week ago over Cornell's ECAC Hockey travel partner, Colgate, which helped snap a three-game slide. The Orange won a span of five straight games from Oct. 19 to Nov. 10, which included a 4-1 win over then No. 3-4 Boston College.
Jessica Sibley and Nicole Ferrara both have a team-high six goals thus far, while Nicole Renault leads the Orange with 12 points (2g, 10a). Junior forward Allie LaComb is tied for second among national leaders with three game-winning goals, while senior goaltender Kallie Billadeau is eight in save percentage (.934). The Orange – under the direction of fifth-head coach Paul Flanagan - has the eighth-best penalty kill unit in the country right now, as it's currently operating at an 89.3 percent efficiency rate.
Flanagan is no stranger to ECAC Hockey opponents, having spent eight seasons at the helm of the program at St. Lawrence University.
THE SERIES WITH THE ORANGE
Since first meeting in the 2009-10 season Cornell has built a 4-1 lead in the series. Its most recent victory over the Orange- an 8-1 triumph last Jan. 15 at Lynah Rink – saw
Brianne Jenner notch a hat trick and a total of five different Big Red skaters light the lamp (Saulnier, Campbell,
Erin Barley-Maloney, Cudmore). Cornell scored five goals in the first period and outshot the Orange 32-14 in the contest.
TIME WARNER CABLE SPORTS
Tuesday's game will be the first televised contest for the Big Red this season, as it will be broadcast locally on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, with Dan D'Uva and Dan Liedka on the call.
BIG RED SPECIAL TEAMS
The Big Red tallied two power-play goals against Boston College on Friday, helping the team stay atop the national leaderboard at 30.9 percent with the man-advantage. The combined special teams' average of 59.1 percent is good for second in the country, behind ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rival, Harvard.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
·
Emily Fulton (1.83) remains the national leader in points per game and assists per game (1.17) and is in a multi-player tie for fourth (0.67).
·
Jillian Saulnier is the leader in goals per game (0.92) and is tied for fourth with teammate
Jessica Campbell in the points per game category (1.58).
· In addition to being tied with her linemate in PPG, Campbell is also third in the assists per game category (1.08).
· As a team, Cornell has the number two scoring offense averaging 4.00 goals per game and also is ranked fifth in scoring margin (1.92).
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
·
Jillian Saulnier is looking for her 115
th career point.
·
Emily Fulton is one goal away from 25 for her career.
·
Hanna Bunton's next point will be her tenth.
·
Jessica Campbell,
Alyssa Gagliardi and
Taylor Woods each only need two points to reach 85, 70 and 35, respectively.
60 & 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 60-8-4.
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 breaks for the semester following Tuesday's contest and will not return to the ice until Jan. 3 for an ECAC Hockey matchup at Brown.
