Box Score (PDF) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 10/9 Cornell women's hockey fell short on Saturday afternoon at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, losing 3-0 to #5/5 Harvard. The loss drops the Big Red to 8-3-2 in ECAC Hockey play, while it falls into a tie with the Crimson atop the Ivy League standings with 10 points apiece.
Sophomore
Paula Voorheis (L, 8-7-3) played phenomenally in the losing effort. She made 38 saves, allowing just two first period goals, while the Crimson added a late tally with the net vacated and six attackers on for Cornell.
Junior forward Mary Parker scored the eventual game-winner just 3:42 into the contest. Taking an exit pass out of the Crimson zone from senior blue-liner Sarah Edney, she moved into the Cornell zone one-on-one against standout freshman
Erin O'Connor. Although the rookie defender did a nice job to limit Parker's option, the forward found a way to poke the puck past Voorheis to the near post for the 1-0 Harvard lead.
Harvard (14-3-2; 11-2-1 ECAC Hockey; 5-1-0 Ivy League) tacked on a second on the powerplay just before the first intermission. With junior
Morgan Richardson off on a roughing minor with 1:28 left in the period, the Crimson put the league's second ranked powerplay to work. Primarily working the puck around the perimeter, senior defender Josephine Pucci moved the puck from the center point to senior forward Samantha Reber along the goal line. She quickly sent it out to the left circle to junior blue-liner Michelle Picard who snapped a wrister past Voorheis to double the lead.
Cornell (10-7-3; 8-3-2 ECAC Hockey; 5-2-0 Ivy League) tried to battle back into the contest, but struggled to generate clean looks in the offensive zone. The Big Red finished with just 22 shots and went 0-for-3 on the powerplay. Junior
Cassandra Poudrier led the Big Red with a career high eight shots on goal.
Preseason All-ECAC goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer stood tall to turn away all 22 Cornell shots, including an excellent stop on sophomore
Kaitlin Doering in the third period as she roared in on a partial breakaway.
Parker potted the empty-netter with 57 seconds remaining to seal the victory in the first of two meetings in the regular season.
Cornell will return home next weekend for a two-game home set against Union and Rensselaer. Puck drop for both games will be 3 p.m. with Saturday's game part of a doubleheader with men's hockey taking on Colgate at 7 p.m. Friday's contest against Union will be the team's annual Do It For Daron (D.I.F.D) fundraiser game to benefit mental health awareness, while Saturday's matchup with RPI will be the Big Red's #BeTheMatch fundraiser to benefit cancer research.
