Box Score (PDF)
 
HANOVER, N.H. – Cornell women's hockey continued its four-game road stretch through the Ivy League on Friday evening, besting Dartmouth 2-1 at Thompson Ice Arena. The gutsy victory moved the Big Red to 8-2-2 in ECAC Hockey play, while it springs the squad into first place with a 5-1 record in the Ivy League.
 
Sophomore defender Sydney Smith tallied the game-winner – her second goal in as many games – with 13:42 remaining in the third period. Junior Jess Brown added the other goal – also her second straight game with a tally – to put the Big Red up 1-0 with 1:36 remaining in the second period.
 
Sophomore netminder Paula Voorheis (W, 8-6-3) continued her fantastic work in the crease for Cornell, stopping 28-of-29 shots to win her third straight contest.
 
It was a courageous effort for Cornell (10-6-3, 8-2-2 ECAC Hockey, 5-1-0 Ivy League) which was missing three regular starters from the lineup, dressing just seven forwards in the contest. Dartmouth (10-8-1, 6-6-1 ECAC Hockey, 2-4-0 Ivy League) showed no mercy with hellacious forechecking. The Big Red resisted with an extremely gutsy performance to win its fourth straight contest, while stretching its unbeaten streak to ten games.
 
The Big Red held strong in the opening 20 minutes, repeatedly repelling Dartmouth attacks. The Cornell penalty kill, which has been nearly impregnable in recent games, stood tall yet again. The Big Red went 2-for-2 with an aggressive attacking PK that allowed the Big Green to establish little rhythm in the attacking zone in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The contest remained scoreless throughout a back-and-forth second period; before the Big Red finally broke the log-jam on the scoreboard with 1:36 remaining in the middle frame on Jess Brown's seventh of the season. The play began with Erin O'Connor pinched down low in the attacking zone. She controlled the puck behind the net and whipped a wrap-around chance that was stopped by Big Green goaltender Robyn Chemago. The Dartmouth defender swept the puck out the crease, but Taylor Woods made a nice play to keep the puck in at the right point. She shot a bouncing puck towards the net that Brown backhanded off the short-hop past Chemago for a hard earned 1-0 Big Red lead.
 
The Big Red continued to defend its tenuous lead early in the final period, as the Big Green pushed for an equalizer. Voorheis came up with a huge stop with 14:40 left to play. Senior forward Karlee Odland jump started the rush with a stretch pass up the right wing to fellow senior Samantha Zeiss. She charged into the Cornell zone, sending a puck to the crease looking for junior Ailish Forfar who was making a hard center drive. She got a tip on the puck from the top of the blue crease, but Voorheis squeezed the pads tight to make the save.
 
Cornell extended its lead just 58 seconds later on Smith's goal. Junior defender Cassandra Poudrier made a nice play to keep the puck in at the center point, moving it over to the right half wall. Sophomore Caroline DeBruin shuffled the rubber down the boards to fellow sophomore Kaitlin Doering. Although she was blanketed by the Dartmouth defender, she made a perfect backhand feed to a wide-open Smith in the slot. She made a nice deke and finessed a shot five-hole past Chemago to double the Cornell lead with 13:42 remaining.
 
The Big Green finally solved Voorheis with 6:58 remaining, besting a Big Red penalty-kill that had stopped the opponent on 34 of the last 36 opportunities. Junior Lindsey Allen kept the puck in at the left point and passed the puck to junior Laura Stacy at the center point. With acres of space she skated between the circles and hammered a slapper past Voorheis to pull Dartmouth within one.
 
The Big Red held strong with an amazing effort down the stretch. Although gassed from logging heavy minutes, Cornell did an excellent job of minimizing zone time to hang onto the 2-1 advantage.
 
Cornell will return to action tomorrow afternoon when it heads to Cambridge, Mass., to take on #5 Harvard in a battle for the top spot in the Ivy League standings. Opening faceoff at Bright-Landry Hockey Center is scheduled for 4 p.m.