Box Score (PDF)
 
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - #10 Cornell women's hockey shutout Union 4-0 on Saturday afternoon to wrap-up the regular season with a weekend sweep in the state's capital district. The win clinches home-ice for the first round series of the ECAC Hockey Championships, which will start on Friday night.
 
Senior winger Jillian Saulnier perpetuated her recent scoring binge with another pair of goals in the victory. She now has 75 for her career, sitting in a tie with Sunshine Lorenz (1974-78) for eighth on the program's all-time goal list. The two points also pulled her into a tie with Rebecca Johnston (2007-11) for sixth on the program's career point list.
 
Sophomore Paula Voorheis (W, 14-10-3) stopped 25 Dutchwomen shots to mark her second shutout of the season and fifth of her Big Red career. She was a major factor in preserving the Cornell lead with a strong second period where she denied 10 Union shots.
 
Junior Anna Zorn tallied her first goal of the year on a first period powerplay, which turned out to be the game-winner. Freshman Erin O'Connor added a late second period tally to snap a four-game scoring drought. Senior winger Emily Fulton added a pair of assists. Juniors Morgan Richardson and Taylor Woods, sophomore Hanna Bunton and freshman Sarah Knee each added one apple apiece.
 
Senior captain Brianne Jenner also added one helper to become the program's all-time assists leader with 131 in her career.
 
The win sets up a first round series against St. Lawrence at Lynah Rink. The Big Red will be the fourth-seed in the tournament and will host a best-of-three series against the upstate rival.
 
After scratching out a hard fought victory against Rensselaer on Friday, Cornell (16-10-3, 14-6-2 ECAC Hockey) controlled the game throughout against Union (4-22-8, 1-16-5 ECAC Hockey). The Big Red jumped out to an early lead on Zorn's first goal of the season just 5:02 into the game.
 
With the second unit on, the Big Red set up shop in the Dutchwomen end. Woods made a nifty play to elude a defender at the center point, before moving the puck to Bunton at the right point. Bunton one-timed a slap shot that Zorn deflected past Union netminder Shenae Lundberg to get the visitors on the board.
 
Saulnier doubled the lead with just under five minutes left in the opening frame on a beautiful play. After being absolutely robbed on a sparkler of a save from Lundberg earlier in the shift, Fulton touch passed the puck to Saulnier in the neutral zone. She moved into the Dutchwomen end one-on-two, before dipping her shoulder and backhanding the puck five-hole past Lundberg.
 
The score would remain the same, as both goalies put on a clinic in the middle period. Finally, the Big Red would knock home a third goal with just 25 seconds remaining in the frame. With the Dutchwomen buzzing in the Cornell end, Fulton picked off a pass and got the Big Red rolling on a quick counter attack. She fired a stretch pass up to Jenner on the left wing. The senior moved into the Union end and made a perfect drop pass to O'Connor who was trailing the play. The freshman whipped a wrister top shelf to stretch the lead.
 
Saulnier would cap the scoring just 1:49 into the third period. With the Big Red gaining an offensive zone faceoff due to an icing, the dynamic top-line worked its magic again. Although Jenner lost the faceoff, Knee did an excellent job to pinch at the left half wall and keep the puck in the zone. She followed the play and won a 50-50 puck battle back to Saulnier who was camped at the half wall beyond the circle. From an impossible angle, she one-timed a laser shot that somehow found its way into the net off of the far post.
 
With the victory Cornell finished in a tie with St. Lawrence, as the Saints downed Dartmouth in a wild 6-4 final in Hanover. The Big Red got the nod for home-ice on the tiebreaker due to the 1-0-1 record against the Saints during the regular season.
 
Full coverage of the four first round matchups can be found here: Click Here.
 
Cornell now will look to take advantage of a clean slate in the conference tournament. The Big Red have won four of the last five ECAC Hockey Tournaments overall.