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ITHACA, N.Y. – Trailing Princeton by three goals heading into the final period, Cornell women's hockey made a furious comeback, before ultimately falling 5-4 in its home opener Friday afternoon at Lynah Rink. The loss drops the Big Red to 0-3 to start the season for the first time since losing its first three games to begin the 2005 season.
 
Senior winger Emily Fulton continued her torrid start to the season, collecting her second multi-point game with a goal and an assist.  
 
Junior winger Jess Brown scored her first of the season on the power-play in the first period.
 
Freshman defender Sarah Knee and sophomore Brianna Veerman both scored their first collegiate goals in the hard fought loss. Knee's mark came on the power-play, while Veerman's pulled the Big Red within one goal late in the third period as Cornell pushed hard for the comeback.
 
Taylor Woods collected two assists to also notch her first multi-point game of the season.
 
Slow starts have been a problem for Cornell (0-3-0, 0-1-0 ECAC Hockey) thus far this season. Friday afternoon was more of the same, as it allowed Princeton (2-1-0, 1-0-0 ECAC Hockey) to score the game's opening tally, as the Tigers capitalized on a nice transition play. Defender Molly Strabley started the play, collecting the puck near her own blue line and quick-upping the puck to the streaking Brianna Leahy on the right wing. Leahy blazed down the right wing, before making a perfect pass onto the tape of Fiona McKenna between the circles as she made a bee-line to the crease. McKenna one timed the puck into the upper right of the 4x6 as sophomore net minder Paula Voorheis (L, 0-3-0) sprawled left.
 
Cornell equalized on the power-play with just 20-seconds remaining in the opening period. With the Tigers Leahy off for interference at 18:47, the Big Red put its potent power-play to work. Fulton worked the left wall, filtering the puck into the high slot to Woods. The sophomore center ripped a wrist shot to the net front that took a deflection off of junior Jess Brown and past Kimberly Newell (W, 1-1) to knot the score at 1-1.
 
While the goal was a fitting conclusion to an opening period that saw the Big Red out-shoot the Tigers 11-4, it could not carry the momentum to the middle period. Princeton struck three times in the opening 2:53 of the middle frame to completely change the complexion of the game. Molly Contini, Audrey Potts and Kiersten Falck struck three times in 2:21, prompting a Cornell timeout. The Big Red decided to pull the struggling Voorheis in favor of freshman Amelia Boughn.
 
Facing the sizeable deficit, Cornell attempted to chip away. The Big Red struck a second time with the man-advantage later at 8:43 of the period. Caroline DeBruin corralled a loose puck in the right circle. She fed the puck to Hanna Bunton, who worked it to the point to Knee. The freshman unleashed a cannon shot through a net front screen for the squads second power-play tally of the afternoon.
 
Princeton stymied what looked to be a promising Cornell rally with a late second period goal on the power-play to reestablish the three goal advantage. With Sydney Smith off for hooking at 17:18 of the second period, the Tigers earned an attacking zone faceoff midway through its power-play. Jaimie McDonell – who was dynamite at the faceoff dot all afternoon – won a faceoff clean to Ali Pankowski at the right point. She fired a howitzer that ducked-and-dived past Boughn to up the lead to 5-2.
 
With a long road back to level ground, the Big Red continued to show fight in a promising third period. Fulton struck for her third goal of the season just 31-seconds into the third period. With Morgan Richardson sent off for high sticking late in the second period, the Tigers carried 47-seconds of power-play time to the final period. Woods picked off a pass in the neutral zone and ladled the puck up to Fulton who went one-on-one into the Princeton zone. She sniped a shot five-hole on Newell to breathe life into the Big Red rally.
 
Veerman pulled the Big Red within one at 16:05. Cornell pinned the Tigers in its own zone with a tenacious fore check. Kaitlin Doering dug a loose puck out of the corner and moved in behind the cage. She filtered it back to Veerman who was charging to the near post along the end line. The sophomore ripped a bad angle shot that was able to elude Newell, sneaking between the pad and the near post.
 
Cornell would continue to pepper the Tiger net in the waning minutes, outshooting Princeton 25-16 overall in the contest. Despite the onslaught of shots, the deficit proved too large to overcome, as the Tigers would hold on over the final 3:55 to hand the Big Red its first ECAC Hockey loss of the season.
 
Cornell will return to action tomorrow afternoon as it welcomes No. 5/5 Quinnipiac to Lynah Rink. Opening faceoff is set for 3 p.m.