Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell women's hockey kicked off its busy second half conference slate Friday evening at Lynah Rink against St. Lawrence. The Big Red battled back from a 3-1 early second period deficit to tie the Saints 3-3 through 65 minutes of regulation and overtime.

Senior captain Brianne Jenner - fresh off her ECAC Hockey Player of the Month honor earlier this week - potted two goals to bring her total to eight on the season and 86 for her career, one shy of tying Cindy Warren 1977'-81' for fifth all-time. Sophomore Hanna Bunton tied the game with 3:53 remaining in the second period, while the Big Red was shorthanded. Freshman Erin O'Connor marked a pair of assists, while Jillian Saulnier, Emily Fulton and Cassandra Poudrier each added one helper.

With both teams earning a point on the tie, St. Lawrence (9-8-3, 5-3-2 ECAC Hockey) and Cornell (6-6-2, 5-2-1 ECAC Hockey) remain in the fifth and sixth place spots respectively in the ECAC Hockey standings. Cornell has 11 points overall, while St. Lawrence has 12 points.
 
The situation looked bleak for the Big Red early in the middle stanza, as the Saints busted out of the gates to begin the period with two goals in the opening 2:11. Kailee Heidersbach put the visitors up 2-1 just 1:19 into the period, slotting home a backdoor pass on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with Abbey McRae and Kayla Raniwsky.
 
St. Lawrence doubled the lead just 52-seconds later. Ellie Williams took a pass from Amanda McClure in the neutral zone and barged into the Cornell zone one-on-three. She slalomed to the net front, firing an initial shot that was stopped by Cornell netminder Paula Voorheis (T, 5-6-2), before steering her own rebound into the open four-by-six.
 
Head coach Doug Derraugh elected to take a timeout to settle the reeling Big Red. The strategy would pay off, as Cornell answered the two-goal flurry with a pair of its own to tie the score before the second intermission.
 
In evenly matched conference matchups it is often the special teams that prove a major difference. The Big Red's special teams play was on-point on Friday as the squad marked two goals on the powerplay, while adding its fifth shorthanded tally of the season.
 
Jenner cut the Cornell deficit to 3-2 at the 10:11 of the middle period. With Brooke Webster off for boarding at 8:19 of the period, the Big Red capitalized on Jenner's second powerplay goal of the contest. After generating several chances with considerable zone time, but still unable to find the back of the net, Fulton surveyed the defense for one final opportunity with less than ten seconds remaining on the player advantage. She whipped a puck from the left point down to the bottom of the right circle to Saulnier. The senior winger one-touched a pass across the crease to Jenner who swept it into the gaping cage at the backdoor of Saints goaltender Brooke Wolejko (T, 2-2-1).
 
With the helper, Saulnier passed Catherine White (2008-11) all-alone into fifth on the all-time list for assists (102), while she moved into seventh all-alone for points (168).
 
The Saints hoped to reestablish the two-goal advantage late in the period, after Morgan Richardson was sent off for checking with 5:02 left in the frame. However, it was the Big Red penalty kill that would capitalize on the ensuing powerplay.
 
Cornell prevented St. Lawrence from establishing possession in the offensive zone with an aggressive forecheck. After the Saints were forced to dump the puck out of the zone, Poudrier corralled the puck at the Big Red blue-line. She backhanded a cross-ice feed to O'Connor at the right wall, who quick-upped a feed to Bunton who was streaking through the neutral zone as the Saints attempted to make a line change. The sophomore streaked into the attacking zone on the right wing with sophomore Kaitlin Doering charging with a hard center drive to the net front on a two-on-one. Bunton elected the shoot rather than pass, sniping a howitzer top shelf over the glove of Wolejko for a shorthanded tally to knot the score at 3-3 at the 16:07 mark of the period.
 
The teams would continue to generate grade-A chances over the final 25 minutes of regulation and overtime, but neither squad could find a tie-breaking goal. The Saints would kill two penalties that spanned most of the overtime period. The best chance for the Big Red came as Jenner wristed a laser from the right circle that was smothered up high by Wolejko. The Saints also generated a glorious chance on the penalty kill, as Kennedy Marchment charged in solo on a 100-foot breakaway; however, her shot drifted just high and wide of the right post.

Jacqueline Wand opened the scoring at the 13:00 mark of the first period, slotting home a backdoor pass on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play with Amanda Boulier and Brooke Webster collecting assists. Jenner equaled the score at 1-1 just 1:18 later when she blasted a one-timer off a feed from O'Connor past the stick side of Wolejko.
 
Cornell will return to action tomorrow afternoon when it welcomes No. 8 Clarkson to Lynah Rink for a 4 p.m. puck drop. The Golden Knights dispatched Colgate 3-1 on Friday evening in Hamilton, N.Y.