TROY, N.Y. -- For the first time in its Division-I history, the No. 4 Cornell women's hockey team had eight different players find the back of the net. The Big Red (19-3-6, 16-3-2 ECAC Hockey) downed the Engineers (13-15-5, 10-10-1 ECAC Hockey), 8-2, Friday evening at the Houston Field House. Overall 15 of the 19 skaters that dressed for the Big Red recorded a point. Additionally, eight members had multipoint performances.
 
The Big Red ditched its recent trend of slower starts with three first period goals, the first of which came just 14 seconds into the contest off the stick of Kristin O'Neill.
 
Cornell controlled the opening faceoff and took it into its offense zone. After nearly losing possession of the puck Jaime Bourbonnais swiped it away from a couple Engineers players and over to Amy Curlew, who quickly fired a backhanded pass in the direction of the net. With four white jerseys around her, O'Neill poked the puck home for her 20th goal of the season.
 
The Engineers answered back to even the score with 10:36 remaining in the opening frame. Immediately after a faceoff win at the right circle, Aimee Raithby fired a quick shot that was deflected before finding the back of the net.
 
The Big Red responded with a quick of quick goal off a faceoff win of its own. After Kristin O'Neill won the faceoff at the right circle, Maddie Mills swooped in and sent it back to defenseman Micah Zandee-Hart who was stationed near the along the boards. With all the Engineers playing deep in their defensive zone, Zandee-Hart skated towards the slot and fired a shot top shelf past the right shoulder of Rensselaer goaltender Lovisa Selander with 6:01 left in the first.
 
Cornell added its final goal of the first frame with 1:52 remaining on the clock. After nearly losing possession in its offense, Lenka Serdar battered the puck away from the Engineers and sent a cross-ice pass to Kendra Nealey. Meanwhile Pippy Gerace stationed herself in front of the net. Nealey sent the shot in and Gerace redirected past Selander.
 
Coirnell did not let up in the second period, adding four more.
 
The first of which came in 6:20 into the period. O'Neill sent the puck up the length of the ice to Amy Curlew. Though, Curlew struggled to coral in the pass. Her initial touch led her forward towards the goal, but the puck was too far in front for her to gain possession. Just before it reached Selander, Curlew lunged forward with one hand on her stick and snuck the puck five-hole.
 
Bourbonnais added another goal for the Big Red with 12:47 left in the second frame. After her initial attempt to send to puck to slot was blocked by an Engineers defenseman, Bourbonnais fired a shot from the goal line and managed to send a rising puck over the left shoulder of Selander. After the goal the Engineers replaced Selander in net with Kira Bombay.
 
Grace Graham got on the board with 9:57 left in the second stanza. After Diana Buckley attempted a wrap around the rebound shot back out to Graham, who was posted in front of the net. With Bombay pulled to the left, the junior forward sent the puck to right and found the back of the net.
 
The Big Red added its final goal of the second period with 8:31 remaining. Serdar and Sam Burke applied phenomenal pressure on the forecheck, as it was Serdar who poked the puck away from Rensselaer defenseman Kirsten Iwanski, keeping it in the offensive zone. Burke collected the puck and flipped it forward to Serdar. The senior forward skated in front of the net and snuck it past Bombay.
 
Gillis Frechette added the Big Red's final goal of the contest with 13:20 left in the contest. Frechette collected the puck in front of the net and fired a spinning shot that found the back of the net.
 
Marlène Boissonnault finished with the contest with a total of 15 saves. The senior goaltender now has 52 career wins and is one win shy of tying Amanda Mazzotta for second place on the program's all-time wins list.
 

THE UPDATED POSTSEASON PICTURE

Cornell now sits atop the ECAC Hockey standings with 34 points. If Cornell beats Union on Saturday it will claim the ECAC Hockey regular season title and earn the right to host the championship round. Listed below are the other scenarios in which the Big Red would earn hosting rights.

• Cornell ties Union and Princeton ties or loses to St. Lawrence
• Cornell loses to Union and Princeton loses to St. Lawrence and Clarkson ether ties or loses to Quinnipiac

 

THE BIG RED'S LINEUP 

NOTES TO KNOW 

• This marks the most goals in a contest for the Big Red since Jan. 30, 2015 when it downed Union 8-2.
• The last time the Big Red had eight different players score in a game was on Jan. 10, 1999 against Colby College, two years before there was Divison-I women's hockey
• The Big Red held the Engineers to 0-for-3 on power play chances. Since Jan. 12, Cornell leads the nation in penalty kill percentage (.977) having 42-of-43 penalties.
• In the first period, Boissonnault recorded her 1,500th career save. She now has 1,514, which ranks 10th all-time in program history.
• With her three points tonight, O'Neill now sits at 99 career points.
• With her assist on the Big Red's first goal, Bourbonnais reached 50 career assists.
• Frechette netted her second goal in the last three games.