Cornell Women's Ice Hockey splits weekend against Mercyhurst

ERIE, Pa. – No. 3 Cornell hasn’t trailed much this season, but a two-goal deficit against No. 6 Mercyhurst wound up being a hole the Big Red could climb out of.

Down 2-0 just 6:20 into the game, Cornell fought back to take a 4-3 lead in the second period and eventually beat the Lakers 5-4 on their home ice Friday night.

“It was good for our team to be put in that situation and have to respond,” said head coach Doug Derraugh, who won his 99th career game. “You never really want to be down, but it was important for our team to figure out a way tonight to come back, and they did so.”

Mercyhurst tied the game at 4-4 just 3:24 into the third period on a shot that took a funny bounce up in the air, getting just under the crossbar and sneaking past Amanda Mazzotta.

It took another 15 minutes, but the Big Red (10-1) regained its lead and scored the game-winner with 2:30 to go. Emily Fulton began the play by taking the puck along the right boards. The freshman passed the puck to Catherine White higher up the boards, and White found defenseman Laura Fortino on the other side of the ice. Fortino, with no one near her, skated in before rifling a wrister past Hillary Pattenden to stun the home crowd.

“[White] made an unbelievable pass when I called for it on the back door, and it was right on my tape,” said Fortino, who scored the goal in front of her mother, father and grandfather. “Not every night we’re going to be 100 percent, and that showed a lot of character in our team that every time we were down, we fought back.”

The Big Red (10-1) snapped the nation’s second-longest unbeaten streak in the process, as the Lakers (10-3) came into the night on a nine-game winning run.

Just as No. 3 Cornell did on Friday night, No. 6 Mercyhurst came from behind on Saturday to defeat the Big Red 5-2 on its home ice.

The Big Red (10-2) had its six-game winning streak snapped by the Lakers (11-3), who, after falling behind 1-0 in the first period, beat Cornell for the first time in its last three tries.

Through the first two periods, Cornell extended its streak to 16 consecutive periods with a goal, but that streak ended in the third. Cornell has still scored in 34 of 36 periods this year. For the first time all season, the Big Red was outshot, with Mercyhurst holding a 41-35 advantage at game’s end.

The team’s streak of 10 games scoring at least three goals also came to an end, though it remains a school record to start a season.

Head coach Doug Derraugh was denied his 100th career victory, and he will have to wait until at least Jan. 6 when Cornell returns to action at Union College in Schenectady. The Big Red also plays an exhibition game against St. Lawrence University in Akwesasne on Jan. 2.