College women’s hockey: Clarkson ousts Cornell in decisive Game 3 of ECAC quarterfinal series

The other semifinal will feature No. 3 Quinnipiac against No. 2 Colgate. Quinnipiac reached the semifinals with a 2-1 overtime win over No. 6 St. Lawrence University.

Sunday’s win was Clarkson’s first quarterfinal series victory since the 2019-20 season. Only the seniors on this year’s team, who spent all four years with the program, have ever won a playoff series.

“The biggest thing was not worrying about last night,” Clarkson coach Matt Desrosiers said. “I thought we did a pretty good job at that. Whenever you can gain any type of experience for your players, whether they are older players or younger players, that’s really important.”

Cornell (16-14-2), the No. 5 seed, forced Sunday’s third game with a 2-1 double overtime victory Saturday.

The Big Red started well Sunday when Izzy Daniel scored on a breakaway just after a Clarkson power play at 2 minutes, 54 seconds of the second period.

But Cornell relied heavily on its top line and that may have led to fatigue later in the game, especially on the third day of a series that saw the players on both teams play an extra period in game two.

“Whenever you play in a tough series like this and it goes to three games, I think everyone on the ice is a little-bit fatigued,” Desrosiers said. “When we got the lead (Cornell coach Doug Derraugh) is probably looking to play those top players a little bit more and I don’t blame him. Those are great players and they do a lot for him.”

Clarkson responded to the goal with a breakaway goal from Gabrielle David at 5:12 of the second period. Anne Cherkowski saw David skating fast and sent a soft pass ahead of her to set up the goal.

“Yesterday I missed a lot of goals so maybe it was a sign (Sunday) I’m getting one,” David said. “I was just confident. Usually I don’t shoot five-hole. I don’t know why I went so fast at it. When you don’t think about it, it happens.”

The Golden Knights took the lead for good when Haley Winn scored on a rebound of her own shot at 15:28 of the second period, lofting a shot over the shoulder of Big Red goalie Deanna Fraser.

“There was a scrum in front of the net and I’m not really sure what happened,” Winn said. “It tipped off (Fraser’s) glove. I took another whack at it. I don’t know if I hit it again. It just kind of trickled in.”

Anne Cherkowski extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal from the middle of one of the faceoff circles at 11:08 of the third period.

Clarkson’s final goal came when Sena Catterall found an empty net at 17:12 of the third period.

Clarkson goalie Michelle Pasiechnyk finished with 21 saves and only allowed four goals in three games to a team that averaged 3.2 goals this season.

“It was a lot,” Pasiechnyk said. “I was really busy but my team was in front of me getting the rebounds, doing everything they could. I made the simple saves and they took care of the rest. It feels amazing, so much fun. It feels a lot better when it’s close and it’s great to do it with this group of girls.”

QUINNIPIAC 2, ST. LAWRENCE 1 (OT)

Saide Peart scored 3:05 into overtime to help the Bobcats (29-8) avoid an upset series loss to St. Lawrence University in Hamden, Conn.

The Saints (17-19-3), who won game two 3-2, led early thanks to a goal from Julie Gosling at 11:12 of the first period. Shailynn Snow and Abby Hustler assisted.

Kate Reilly tied the game for the Bobcats at nine minutes of the third period.