Three power-play goals and an empty-netter gave No. 14 Cornell a 4-1 win over Colgate Friday evening at Lynah Rink. Senior goaltender Matt Underhill turned in a strong performance, stopping 23 shots in earning the win.
The Big Red, which had lost three of its last four games, scored twice in the first and once in each of the next two periods. Stephen Baby, Sam Paolini and Mark McRae each tallied on the power play, while Shane Palahicky added an empty-net goal for Cornell, which improved to 10-5-1 overall and 6-2-1 in the ECAC. All four scorers are members of the junior class.
Colgate, which came into Friday with three straight wins, fell to 6-12 overall and 4-5 in the ECAC. David Cann made 21 stops in goal, and Paul Kelley scored the only Raider goal, in the second period.
Colgate’s Ben Bryce helped set up the Big Red’s first goal of the game when he was called for tripping just 2:49 into the contest. Just 26 seconds later, Baby found the back of the net for the first goal of the night. Murray, who had three assists in the game, set up Baby’s slapshot from the left point.
Paolini tallied the game winner with 2:52 left in the first period when he tipped in a shot by Baby.
Cornell increased its lead to 3-0 when McRae tallied at 1:26 of the second period with an assist going to Murray. Patrick Farrell and Scooter Smith combined to assist on Kelley’s score at 14:50 to cut the Cornell lead to two goals after 40 minutes of action.
The Raiders pulled Cann with 1:40 left to play for an extra skater, but Ryan Vesce sent Palahicky on a breakaway for the final goal with 50 seconds left to play.
