ITHACA, N.Y. - The no. 3 Cornell women's ice hockey team defeated the no. 5 Colgate Raiders 5-1 at Lynah Rink to claim its first ECAC Hockey Championship since 2013-14. 

Mckenna Van Gelder, Lindzi Avar, Karel Prefontaine Kaitlin Jockims, and Katie Chan registered Big Red goals in the contest. Avi Adam, Rose Dwyer, Rory Guilday, Lindzi Avar, and Alyssa Regalado were credited with assists in the game. Annelies Bergmann collected 27 saves in the game.

The Big Red women's ice hockey team brought in its largest crowd to Lynah Rink since the 2019-20 season, and they were energized throughout the action. The Big Red fed off of that energy and wasted no time in the ECAC Hockey Championship game, breaking out to a 2-0 lead 1:37 into the game.

Van Gelder potted the first goal at the 1:13-mark when the Big Red overwhelemed Murphy in front of the net as the puck trickled in. Avar followed up 25 seconds later with an unexpected shot from close to the blue-line to add cushion to the lead.

After a scoreless first stanza, Malachino got Colgate on the board mid-way through the second period. With 30 seconds left in the period, Jockims was tagged with a slashing-infraction to put Cornell on the penalty-kill for the first time of the evening. The Big Red survived the 30-second woman-down circumstance to go into the intermission and regroup for the final 1:30 of the kill.

Cornell created momentum for the third period by shutting down the strong Colgate power-play. Moments later, the Raiders committed a high-stick penalty to give Cornell its first power-play of the day and an opportunity to add insurance to its advantage. Prefontaine made it count when she scored her fourth goal of the playoffs to give the Big Red a 3-1 lead.

The Raiders pulled their goaltender in search for a pair of goals with three minutes left in the game. Following a handful of chances Cornell would make the Raiders pay for the empty-net, scoring two goals coming from Jockims and Chan to put the game on ice and usher Cornell to its first ECAC Hockey Championship victory since 2013-14.

All Tournament Team:
F - Kaia Malachino, Colgate
F - Lily Delianedis, Cornell
F - Lindzi Avar, Cornell
D - Grace Dwyer, Cornell
D - Casey Borgiel, Colgate
G - Annelies Bergmann (Most Outstanding Player)

Next Up
The Cornell women's ice hockey will await the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday to find out who it will face in the NCAA regional round.