Three third period goals doomed the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team as they fell to Cornell 3-1 in the ECAC Hockey Championship semifinals on Saturday afternoon in Cheel Arena.
Clarkson is now 24-10-3 on the season while Cornell is 19-10-3. The Big Red will advance to play in the championship game on Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Knights would open the scoring at 15:20 when junior Cayley Mercer (Exeter, ONT) fit a wrist shot between the Big Red goalie and the right post. Senior Christine Lambert (Thetford Mines, QUE) and junior assistant captain Olivia Howe (Moose Jaw, SASK) had assists on the goal.
Audio Mercer goal
The score would remain 1-0 until 6:52 in the third period when Cornell would strike twice within a minute. First, Emily Fulton found Jillian Saulnier in front of the net for a power play goal. Just 23 seconds later, the puck bounced to Hanna Bunton in front of the Clarkson net and she buried it to give Cornell their first lead. They would add an insurance goal at 13:12 when Cassandra Poudrier centered a puck from behind the net and Brianne Jenner was there to finish it.
Cornell is still alive for their third straight ECAC Hockey tournament championship. They have also defeated Clarkson three straight times in Cheel Arena, including a 1-0 triumph in the 2014 tournament final.
Clarkson freshman goaltender Shea Tiley (Owen Sound, ONT) finished with 18 saves. Cornell held a slight advantage in shots, 21-20. Clarkson was 0-4 on man advantage opportunities while Cornell scored on one of their five power plays.
Clarkson will await the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Selection Show, which will be shown tomorrow at 7pm and will announce whether the Green and Gold will play next weekend in the NCAA Tournament.
In the second semifinal, Harvard scored just under three minutes into overtime to complete a comeback and defeat Quinnipiac 2-1 in the ECAC Hockey semifinals.
Quinnipiac opened the scoring at 6:16 in the first period when Emma Woods scored off a pass from Nicole Brown. The Crimson would tie the game at 7:14 in the third period when Sarah Edney scored off a pass from Michelle Picard. Miye D’Oench would score the game winning goal 2:39 into the overtime period.
Harvard will advance to face Cornell in the ECAC Hockey final on Sunday at 2:00 pm in Cheel Arena.
The NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Selection Show is coming up this Sunday, March 8th at 7pm ET
