COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After dominating its opponents for over three months, the Cornell women's ice hockey team is ranked #1 on the USCHO.com poll. 
 
The Big Red received 145 points, including 11 first-place votes, to pass Wisconsin. Both Wisconsin and Minnesota have held the number one spot since the beginning of the season.
 
The poll consists of 50 voters, including coaches, beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.
 
The team with the nation's best winning percentage (.900), Cornell has moved to the top of the USCHO.com poll for the first time since Dec. 13, 2010. The 2010-2011 team sat on top for a three week period at the close of the 2010 calendar year before dropping down to number two. 
 
The ranking comes right after Cornell beat #10 Harvard on Friday (Feb. 7), 4-1, and Dartmouth on Saturday (Feb. 8), 3-0 to extend its unbeaten streak to 15 games, a nation-leading number. Following the two weekend victories, the Big Red clinched the Ivy League title. These games saw the continuance of wins over ranked teams such as #6 Ohio State (11/30), #6 Princeton (12/6) and #9 Harvard (1/18). Cornell has just one loss on the season, against #6 Ohio State (11/29), with an unbeaten conference record. 
 
Under Doug Derraugh '91, who is in his 15th season as the Head Coach of the women's ice hockey team, the Big Red continues to hold defense as the most important aspect of its game. Second in the nation in shutouts (nine to Northeastern's 12), the Big Red defensive unit and penalty kill teams sit on the top of the nation with a .80 goals against average and a 93.8 kill percentage. With a 3.72 goals per game average, Cornell is ranked fifth in the nation in team offense. 
 
The Big Red fosters a team atmosphere in which a team that works as a whole will win. Looking at the stats, there is not one person who stands out. Seven players have contributed at least 20 points, with the team being led by senior defender Jaime Bourbonnais' 33 points. The senior is followed by senior forward Kristin O'Neill, who leads the team with 16 goals, and junior forward Maddie Mills, who each have 28 points. Senior forward Paige Lewis, sophomore forward Gillis Frechette, senior forward Grace Graham and senior forward Amy Curlew fill out the team's top seven point-earners. 
 
Junior goalie Lindsay Browning has been in the net for a breakout season of her own. With three more shutouts, Browning will break the record for shutouts in one season, and with another standout season like 2019-20, she is on track to break the all-time career record. The junior is on track to finish in the top-three of Cornell's one-season records with her nation-leading .76 goals against average and .959 save percentage.