Mercyhurst coach Mike Sisti had a theme for his players going into this weekend’s series with Cornell–Passion, Effort and Execution. After shutting down Cornell yesterday, 5-0, his players responded with another convincing victory today of 4-1.
It didn’t take long for Mercyhurst (22-6-2) to dent the scoreboard against the Big Red (3-20-3), who have now lost 11 straight. Senior Lindsay Dellow scored her second goal of the season just 1:22 into the game and the Lakers kept the pressure on throughout the period.
Said Dellow of her goal: “We caught them on a change. Dani Lansing kept her head up and there was a great regroup in the neutral zone. She hit Yule at the blue line. It was a great 2-on-1. She hit a saucer pass to me and I had the open net.”
Samantha Shirley scored her third goal in two days when she redirected a slapshot and hit just under the crossbar. The Lakers outshot Cornell 16-4 and controlled the play throughout the period.
The second period got a little chippy as both teams were sent to the penalty box just four seconds in and the rough play continued through the rest of the game.
The only goal in the chippy second period came when senior Teresa Marchese scored just 2:14 in. Although the Lakers outshot the Big Red 13-4 the scoring chances were few and far between.
Sisti was proud of his players’ effort today even when the game started to get a little physical, as Cornell coach Melody Davidson had promised yesterday.
“I was very surprised at how physical Cornell played and our girls stood up to the challenge,” Sisti said. “They kept their head and played disciplined hockey and like yesterday, had timely goals.”
Dellow scored her second goal of the night 6:48 into the final period with an assist from captain Chrissy Yule, who +4 for the day.
“Yule played great all day,” Dellow said. “She makes a difference on every shift. She just worked hard all over the ice and good things happen when she does that.”
Cornell continued to battle hard and scored its first goal of the series with just under two minutes to go in the game. Georgia native Jen Munhofen scored when Vicki Hodgkinson found her wide open in front of an open net. The goal was the result of hard work paying off for Cornell.
“We really played with more heart today,” Munhofen said. “It was a much more physical game than we’re used to in the ECAC. Our goal today was to battle back physically and leave it all on the ice.”
Cornell coach Melody Davidson is optimistic about the future of her team.
Davidson said, “Mercyhurst is a great defensive team and I don’t think we played that poorly. We couldn’t get shots through…on net. You always want to win, but I thought we stepped up today.”
Mercyhurst will have to have–Passion, Effort and Execution–when the team travels to Quinnipiac next week as the Lakers continue CHA league action.
Cornell will finish the regular season next weekend at home when St. Lawrence and Clarkson make the trip to Ithaca.
