No. 2 St. Lawrence Downs No. 3 Harvard, 4-3, to Advance to Championship Tilt

Hanover, NH - The No. 5 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team got two goals and an assist from junior Sabrina Harbec and the Saints ended their postseason winless drought against Harvard with a 4-3 victory in the ECAC Hockey League Semifinals in Thompson Arena on Saturday evening.

St. Lawrence improves to 28-6-3 overall on the season, while Harvard drops to 23-7-2. The loss also snaps the Crimson's three year dominance of the conference tournament, as they've won each tournament dating back to the 2003-04 season.

Harbec, who was named a First Team All-League selection for the second straight year on Friday night, opened the game's scoring at 4:42 of the first period giving the second-seeded Saints a 1-0 lead. Senior Chelsea Grills made a nice play along the boards, keeping the puck in Harvard zone. Harbec picked up the puck just outside the left circle and cut into the slot. The St. Hubert, Quebec native sent a hard backhander that just beat the left pad of Crimson netminder Brittany Martin to open the game's scoring.

With two of the nation's premier offenses on the ice, no lead would be considered safe. The Crimson came right back, knotting the score at 1-1 on the power play at 6:52 of the first period. With the nation's second-best power play unit on the ice for Harvard, Katie Johnston sent a pass in front of Saints goaltender Meaghan Guckian that hit a skate and stopped in front of the crease. Finally, Sarah Wilson was able to coral the puck and lift it over Guckian to even the score at 1-1.

A bit of misfortune would cost the Crimson a goal late in the first, as Harbec picked up her second tally of the night with a mere 2:55 remaining in the period. As Harbec closed in on Martin from the right side, sophomore Carson Duggan crashed the far post looking for a pass. Reading the play, Harbec tried to connect with Duggan, but the puck deflected off of a Crimson defender's stick. Unfortunately, the puck went on net and fooled Martin, who was caught out of position and could only watch as the Saints regained a one goal cushion, 2-1, after one period.

In a wild second period that was full of back-and-forth action, Liza Solley would get the scoring started with her eighth of the season at 4:39 thanks to an outstanding individual effort. The senior collected the puck in the neutral zone and carried it down the near-side boards to Guckian's left. As she entered the Saints zone, she let a hard slap shot loose that beat the Saints goaltender five-hole, again tying the game at 2-2.

Sophomore Alison Domenico would waste little time giving St. Lawrence their lead back only 1:11 later when she scored her 17 th of the campaign. First year student Tara Akstull showed great poise for a rookie as she waited for Domenico to rejoin the play in the Harvard zone. Once she crossed the blue line, Akstull sent a pass to Domenico in the circle. She beat a defender, and closed in on Martin from the right side, tucking the puck under the sophomore goalie to put St. Lawrence back on top by one, 3-2.

With the second period seemingly winding down, Duggan would get her name into the scoring at 18:11 to give the Saints the lone two-goal lead of the contest. Harbec once again got the play started, reeling in the puck behind Martin's goal and sliding a crisp pass in front to her linemate. Duggan, a Ma-Me-O Beach, Alberta native, had plenty of time and snapped a wrist shot over Martin's right shoulder that hit the far post and bounced back into the goal for her 28 th of the season. The assist gave Harbec her third point of the evening and 66 th of the season.

The Crimson's offense, full of dangerous weapons such as Olympians Julie Chu and Sarah Vaillancourt, were given a golden opportunity at 18:42 of the second when Annie Guay joined Domenico in the penalty box, giving Harvard a 5-on-3 advantage for over a minute. It wouldn't nearly take that long for the Crimson to strike, though, as Vaillancourt scored at 19:01, only 50 seconds after Duggan, to pull Harvard back to within one goal at 4-3. A long cross-ice pass from US Olympian Caitlin Cahow set up Vaillancourt on Guckian's right side, as she fired a shot in from the doorstep to end the second period.

Through two periods, the Saints held a 20-13 shot advantage but were unable to score on either of the power play chances. Meanwhile, the Crimson were 2-of-5 with the extra skater and were in position to once again defeat the Saints in the postseason, something they had done six times coming into the contest.

However, the third period belonged to Guckian, who made several outstanding saves to keep Harvard at bay. Her ten saves kept the Saints on top through the third, though her biggest test would come with less than a minute to play in regulation.

Thompson Arena wasn't kind to the Saints in their last visit, as Dartmouth scored a last-minute goal to send the game to overtime, which the Big Green would prevail in by the score of 5-4. With the clock showing under 30 seconds to play, Harvard pulled Martin for the extra skater as the puck was in the St. Lawrence zone. After a long slap shot from Katie Johnston, the puck came loose in front and a Crimson player was able to toss it back on goal. The puck shot straight up in the air, and with Guckian on her back, could've easily crossed the goal line. Instead, however, the goaltender from Victor, NY snagged it before it got behind her, turning back Harvard's best chance to tie the score and sending St. Lawrence to their second ECACHL Championship game in school history.

"After Harvard scored their third goal, it would've been easy for us to get down on ourselves," said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan, who notched career win No. 201. "But our team never flinched and kept working hard. Against a team with as much talent as Harvard, you have to work hard for sixty minutes and we did that tonight."

Guckian finished with 20 saves and notched her third win against Harvard this season. Martin made 25 saves for the Crimson, but fell to 15-4-1 with the loss.

"I think it's neat to look at this Championship and realize that some of the best women's hockey players in the world are here competing this weekend," added Flanagan. "These players all know each other off the ice and have great respect for one another. It's so much fun to be a part of."

Next on the docket for St. Lawrence is No. 3 Dartmouth, the tournament host this weekend. The Big Green, who defeated Colgate 4-1 in the early game on Saturday, boasts another dynamic offense, led by ECACHL Player of the Year Gillian Apps and the conference's Rookie of the Year Sarah Parson's.

"We know we have to play smart and that they're going to be ready to go tomorrow," said Flanagan. "We'll need to feed off of the excitement and adrenalin to try and win our first championships.

The Saints and Big Green will meet tomorrow, Sunday, March 4 th at 2:00pm in Thompson Arena in Hanover, NH. The winner of the contest gets an automatic bid into the 2007 NCAA Tournament and could make a strong push for home ice advantage in the National Quarterfinals.