CORTLAND, NY – Kira Cook (Lake Ronkonkoma/Northwood School) scored the lone goal of the game in the first period, and Eline Gillodes (La Saulce, France/Kents Hill) made it stand up with a shutout in goal, as the nationally 14th-ranked Cortland women's hockey team earned a 1-0 home win over Utica on Sunday afternoon in Alumni Arena. Cortland moves to 1-1-0 on the year, while Utica drops to 0-1-0 after its season opener.
 
Cook's goal was her first of the season, with Fanny Aneborn (Linkoping, Sweden/Lulea HF Sweden) and McKenzie Brown (Peru/Lovell Academy) providing assists for the Red Dragons. Gillodes made 22 saves to earn her first collegiate win and shutout. Katie Mahoney (Toronto, ON/Toronto Leaside Junior) won 8-of-13 faceoffs for Cortland.
 
Katherine Sheahan stopped 35-of-36 shots in goal for Utica, and Angelina Garganese led the Pioneers with five shots on goal. Samantha Dobrzynski won 7-of-12 faceoffs to lead Utica.
 
It took over five minutes of action for either team to record a shot on goal in the game, when Gillodes was able to turn aside a shot from the blue line by the Pioneers' Sophia Jimenez.
 
Cook scored the game-winning goal for Cortland just after the seven-minute mark of the frame. Brown fired a shot from the left point that was turned aside by Sheahan into the corner. Aneborn collected the puck at the left wall and zipped a pass to the front of the net that Cook deflected into the corner of the net for the goal.
 
Shortly after the goal, Utica took a penalty for slashing, but the Red Dragons were unable to add to their lead with the extra skater. Cortland held a significant 14-4 edge in shots on goal in the period, but Sheahan was able to make 13 saves to keep the score at 1-0 into the intermission.
 
The Pioneers started to gain momentum early in the second period, but Gillodes turned aside three shots in the first 90 seconds to keep the Cortland lead.
 
Utica had a shot go off the post near the midway point of the frame, and the Red Dragons had two shots off the post, one by Cook seven minutes into the period and another after Genevieve Sbrocca (Fort Worth, TX/The Hill School Prep) blocked a Utica shot from the Cortland defensive zone and skated in on a partial breakaway with six minutes left in the period.
 
Gillodes made a splendid glove save to deny a Utica chance by Kelsey Elliott down the right side after a turnover in the Cortland defensive zone with under five minutes left. Utica also had its first power play in the finals minutes of the period after a penalty for high sticking by the Red Dragons, but the Cortland penalty kill only allowed two shots on goal during the Utica power play, both of which Gillodes easily stopped to keep the game at 1-0 into the third period.
 
Cortland was unable to find an insurance goal to put the game out of reach, but Gillodes turned aside all seven shots on goal for the Pioneers during the period.
 
With three minutes left on the clock, Carlen Bertrand (Timmons, ON/MCLA) found herself in a quality area in between the circles, but Sheahan came up with a tremendous save to stop the shot.
 
The Red Dragons held the puck for much of the final minutes to secure the victory, not allowing Utica the opportunity to pull Sheahan for an extra attacker in search of an equalizer.