On Friday night, the women’s ice hockey team (14-12-3, 9-10-3 ECAC) dropped 6-2 to Cornell (20-4-5, 16-2-4 ECAC) in their final Ivy League matchup of the regular season. Less than 24 hours later in New York, the Bears fell 3-1 to Colgate (27-7-0, 18-4-0 ECAC).
Despite these two losses, the Bears finished eighth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference and qualified for the playoff. They will begin their postseason campaign on Saturday at home against Union College.
Both Cornell and Colgate are ranked in the national top five, Head Coach Melanie Ruzzi wrote in an email to The Herald. “Knowing we were in those games with chances to win should provide confidence heading into the playoffs.”
On Friday, the star-studded Cornell team came out swinging. Ten minutes into the game, they tallied their first goal with a deep shot that slipped past goalie Rory Edwards ’27. Closing a dominant first period, the Big Red netted their second goal just seven minutes later.
In the second period, Cornell’s momentum came to a resounding halt when a Big Red penalty gave Bruno a much-needed power play. Seizing the opportunity, Monique Lyons ’28 found Ava DeCoste ’27 across the ice for a smooth shot past the Cornell goalie to make it a 1-2 game.
“I fired the puck low, far-side toward the net, aiming to create chaos. Seeing everyone’s hands fly up was unreal,” DeCoste said about her crucial goal. “It was a big moment for the team, and we were fired up to keep the pressure on.”
Just four minutes later, Lyons netted a beautiful quick shot after winning a faceoff to equalize the game.
But the Bears soon found themselves playing catch-up again. When the Big Red scored a third goal with just under one minute left in the second period, they put an end to Bruno’s comeback attempt.
In the final period, the Big Red unleashed an offensive avalanche, netting three more goals and ending the day with a 6-2 victory.
“There is a reason Cornell won both the Ivy League and the ECAC this season — they are deep with high-level talent,” Ruzzi noted. “That being said, we didn’t play a complete game that was required to have a chance to win that one.”
With less than a day to prepare for Colgate, the Bears did not have time to dwell on the loss.
From the opening whistle, Brown attacked, relentlessly pressuring Colgate with intense physicality and shots. At around the five-minute mark, Bruno tallied five shots in just one 30-second possession. The physicality of this possession was marked by Margot Norehad ’27 knocking over a defender in one of the biggest hits of the game.
In the thirteenth minute, Brown’s relentless attacks finally paid off. A clean tic-tac-toe passing scheme between India McDadi ’26 and Jade Iginla ’26 found Norehad face-to-face with the Colgate goalie — a chance that allowed her to collect her twelfth goal of the season.
“Both teams are dynamic offensively and we handled that better on Saturday than Friday so we already put some hard lessons about transition defense into action,” Ruzzi commented.
The tide changed unfavorably for the Bears when Colgate netted their first goal of the game three minutes into the second period. Though the game remained tied heading into the final period, it was then that Colgate pulled away.
Less than a minute in, the Raiders capitalized on a power play and clinched their second goal. Colgate scored a third goal before time expired, ending the day ahead 3-1.
“Cornell and Colgate are two top-ranked opponents, and I think despite the results, we still came out strong, showed resiliency throughout the game and kept the games close,” DeCoste noted. “These games were a good reminder that playoffs are coming up, and it will take a consistent 60 minutes of hockey to get the result we want moving forward.”
“On Saturday, we out-chanced and out-possessed Colgate but didn’t cash in. I think we let that one slip away,” Ruzzi said.
Both teams finished with 26 shots apiece. Goalie Edwards saved 23 of those shots.
The team hopes to put these two losses behind them as they take on Union this Saturday at Meehan Auditorium in the first round of the ECAC tournament.
“We just need to come to play — physically and mentally,” Ruzzi said. “There is a lot of motivation to do whatever it takes to earn more time together as a team by competing at the highest level on Saturday.”
