Luck ran dry for the Bobcats this weekend as ECAC foes Cornell Big Red and the Colgate Raiders came to the TD Banknorth Sports Center and pulled away with a tie and a victory. On Friday, the Cornell Big Red (11-10-3, 7-7-3 ECAC) was able to pull away with a 4-4 tie.
Five minutes into the first period, Cornell’s Rebecca Johnston skated down the ice on a breakaway, made a move and slapped the puck past Bobcat goalie Nanna Holm Glaas for the early goal, putting the Big Red on the board. Cornell’s Chelsea Karpenko was credited with the assist on the goal.
Three minutes later, Cornell’s Sam Wauer took an assist from Brianne Gilbert and hit a slap shot past Holm-Glaas’ glove side into the back of the net for the goal, extending the Big Red’s lead to 2-0.
With 7:05 left in the period, Bobcat Kallie Flor took off on a breakaway and hit a slap shot past the stick side of Cornell goalie, Jenny Niesluchowski, into the back of the net for the Bobcat goal. Flor’s breakaway goal, thanks to an assist from Trudy Reyns, cut the Big Red’s lead in half. Although the Big Red outshot the Bobcats in the first, the period ended with the game still within reach for Quinnipiac, at 2-1.
Despite Cornell out-shooting he Bobcats 10-4 in the second period, the Bobcats tied it up with just 49 seconds left. Janine Duffy blew the puck past Niesluchowski’s stick side to tie the game at two. Kelley Davies was credited with the assist on the goal.
“Even though we didn’t win a game [last week], [the team] knew they could’ve beaten Princeton, Yale and Brown. So I think that helped them,” Quinnipiac head coach Rick Seeley said. “They said let’s go out and work hard and see what happens.”
Two minutes into the third, Bobcat senior forward Antoinette Maldonado gave them the lead for the first time all game, 3-2. Cornell kept fighting back and with 11 minutes left in the game, Cornell’s Catherine White snuck the puck past Holm Glaas to tie up the game at three apiece. Just two minutes later, Johnston scored her second of the game, giving the Big Read the 4-3 lead.
With 7:02 remaining in the game, Duffy tied it back up at four with a goal off of a rebound. Neither team was able to produce any more goals in the period, bringing them to overtime.
In the overtime period, both teams relentlessly attacked the opponents’ goal, but neither team could score, and the game ended with a 4-4 tie.
“The whole season has been about growing up, taking responsibility, and learning to play sixty minutes hard, I thought tonight was one of our most complete efforts of the season” Seeley said. “They battled 65 minutes; I was impressed with them tonight.”
The Bobcats (3-22-5, 2-11-5 ECAC) took on the Colgate Raiders (16-10-3, 10-5-3 ECAC) on Saturday in their final home game of the season. Prior to the game, Quinnipiac’s five seniors were honored for their contributions to the program.
The Bobcats played the Raiders to a stalemate in the first period, before surrendering three goals in the second. In the third, Quinnipiac added a goal to their total but it wasn’t enough to avoid defeat. The buzzer sounded and the final score was 4-1, in favor of the Raiders.
In the pre-game ceremony, the Bobcats honored their five seniors; Danielle Alexieff, Erika Bolognino, Elyse Cole, Antoinette Maldonado and Trudy Reyns. The five seniors have combined for more than 500 games and have made an immense impact on the history of Quinnipiac’s Division I program.
Quinnipiac returns to action with away games against No. 6 St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend.
