By Brandon Thomas
Cornell Athletic Communications

ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior forward Gillis Frechette had a goal and two assists and graduate student Lindsay Browning made 34 saves to help the Cornell women's hockey team secure a 3-2 victory over seventh-ranked Colgate on Sunday afternoon at Lynah Rink.

Freshman defender Rory Guilday scored what turned out to be the winning goal with 9:24 left in the third period, helping Cornell (10-10-2, 8-7-2 ECAC Hockey) to not only inch closer to securing a berth into the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals, but also stay within striking distance of a placement in the top-four — which would yield a coveted opportunity to host a playoff series. With five games remaining in its regular season, Cornell is now nine points clear of ninth-place Brown for the playoff berth and seven behind fourth-place St. Lawrence.

"Since we're toward the bottom of (which teams qualify for the postseason in) the ECAC standings, every game is like a playoff game already," Frechette said. "This a big win, and we needed to have it." 

The winning goal was created by a terrific backhanded saucer pass from Frechette into the path of sophomore forward Lily Delianedis coming into the left circle. Delianedis ripped a shot that beat Colgate goaltender Hannah Murphy glove side, but the puck squarely hit the far post and came back in the direction from which it was shot. Following the play up the ice, Guilday was first to it and slid a shot under Murphy.

Having been depended on for the lion's share of the defensive corps minutes, Guilday is continuing to get comfortable with jumping into the play to create more offense. It was Guilday's sixth goal of the season, with three coming in just the last six games.

"Confidence is definitely something I've been trying to work on, so it's kind of relieving to get these goals," Guilday said. "But all the credit goes to my teammates on that goal."

The goal was Cornell's third straight to take a two-goal lead against Colgate (21-7-1, 11-5-1), which opened the scoring on Sammy Smigliani's tap-in from close range 16:27 into the first period.

But just as it did a day earlier against league-leading Harvard, Cornell clawed its way back into the game — this time on the strength of strikes inside the final three minutes of the opening two periods. The first tied the score at 1 with just 13.7 seconds before the first intermission, when Frechette picked out sophomore forward Gabbie Rud with diagonal pass across the offensive zone. Rud made no mistake with the opportunity, ripping a shot from the bottom of the left circle over Murphy's glove into the far corner of the net.

The teams traded spars through the second period, with Murphy making a save on junior forward Izzy Daniel's shorthanded breakaway at the 10:40 mark, then Browning responded with a strong push from her right to left about two minutes later to cut down a one-timer from Eleri MacKay from close range. Frechette then gave Cornell a 2-1 lead with 2:46 left in the second period, tapping in a rebound of a shot from Daniel that was initially saved by Murphy.

With nearly as much physicality as Saturday's game against Harvard, Sunday's game featured fewer penalties. That was the biggest difference between the two results: Three power-play goals powered Harvard to a 6-3 win on Saturday, while the Big Red penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4 against Colgate on Sunday.

"We moved the puck and we battled — that's what it was," said Associate Head Coach Edith Racine, who is the acting head coach while Doug Derraugh '91, the Everett Family Head Coach of Women's Hockey, is serving as an assistant coach with Team Canada at the Beijing Games. "These are tough teams. They're both toward the top of the ECAC standings. Both games were physical, but we played well."

Dara Greig scored the second goal for Colgate with 4:34 to play, then the visitors pulled Murphy in favor of an extra attacker unusually early — but the Big Red killed off the last 3:54 of the game with the visitors attacking on a six-on-five advantage.

Up next for Cornell is its final non-league game of the regular season, when it hosts Penn State at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Big Red then closes out its six-game home stand with ECAC Hockey games against Rensselaer at 6 p.m. Friday and Union at 3 p.m. Saturday.