Clarkson women bow in overtime

ITHACA — Clarkson University's bid for its first ECAC Women's Hockey championship came us just short on Sunday.

Despite a furious comeback that saw three scores in less than 19 minutes of action, the Golden Knights fell to top-seed Cornell 4-3 at Lynah Rink.

Despite the loss, Clarkson (23-11-5) earned an at-large selection by the NCAA committee on Sunday night. The Golden Knights will play at No. 3 seed Minnesota in a NCAA quarterfinal game most likely on Saturday night.

Cornell (19-8-6) gained the ECAC Hockey automatic bid and is simply waiting for seeding and placement in the eight-team NCAA Tournament.

"Obviously we are disappointed with the outcome, but we are kind of happy with the way the girls came back and responded, being down by three goals,'' said co-coach Matt Desrosiers. "I am proud of the way that they came back. We took a time out after the third goal and I just told them to calm down, use your speed and we can get back into the game.''

Clarkson fell behind 1-0 after one period, and the Big Red scored a pair of goals midway through the second period to forge a 3-0 lead.

Clarkson finally got on the board with 2:30 left in the second period when Melissa Waldie scored.

A penalty on the Big Red provided Clarkson with a chance to get closer midway through the third period. Waldie converted at 8:48 for her second goal of the game and 18th of the season.

Clarkson scored the game-tying goal eight minutes later as Danielle Boudreau converted at 16:04 to knot the game at 3-3.

In overtime, the Knights were unable to clear the puck behind the net. Cornell's Liz Zorn sent it out to center Kendice Oglive in front, who flicked the puck into the net for the game-winner.

On the game-winning goal, Desrosiers said: "It was a simple breakdown behind the net, and their girl did a good job of getting a quick shot off. At first I thought the shot was a little high; I was hoping. But it hit near the top of the net and got in there.''