Box Score

CANTON, NY -- The No. 6 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team found itself deadlocked with Yale University after sixty minutes of game one of the 2008 ECAC Quarterfinal match-up at Appleton Arena on Friday afternoon. After out-shooting the Bulldogs 56-15, junior Marianna Locke collected a rebound to Yale senior goaltender Shivon Zilis' left and buried a shot for her 19th goal of the season to give the Scarlet and Brown a thrilling 2-1 victory.

St. Lawrence (26-8-1, 18-3-1) had the majority of chances throughout the contest, but Zilis was fantastic for Yale (11-13-6, 8-10-4), turning away 55 shots.

The Saints held a 16-5 advantage after one period, with neither team able to crack the other's goaltender. Zilis made a fantastic glove save on senior Sabrina Harbec midway through the period, while St. Lawrence netminder Meaghan Guckian made a break-away save on Yale's Caroline Murphy to keep things knotted at 0-0.

St. Lawrence continued to thoroughly control the puck in the second period, with best scoring chances going to the home team. Senior Annie Guay fired a rocket slap shot on goal that Zilis was unable to control, with the puck flipping over her head and headed for the goal line. However, a Yale defender was there to swipe the puck away at the last second to keep the game scoreless. Sophomore Tara Akstull then followed with a scoring opportunity when she flipped a wrist shot just over the cross bar on a one-on-one with the Yale goaltender.

With the game still scoreless in the third period, St. Lawrence had a great chance while short-handed to take a lead when senior Chelsea Grills took an outlet pass and moved in on a breakaway with Zilis. The goaltender, as she did all night, made a beautiful stop and got her team going the other way. Yale would capitalize, as Murphy centered a pass in the slot to a wide open Mandi Schwartz who snapped a wrist shot past Guckian's glove to put the visitors up 1-0 at 7:48 of the third stanza.

Though the air was taken out of Appleton Arena after the goal, it wasn't long before the Saints gave their fans something to cheer about as they evened the score at 1-1 only 1:27 later. First year defenseman Michelle Zimmerman cycled the puck to the top of the right circle to Akstull who wound up and blasted a slap shot on Zilis. With a screen provided directly in front of the goalie, the puck snuck under the cross bar and put

St. Lawrence on the board at 9:15 of the third.  The goal clearly swung the momentum back in the home team's favor, as they began putting consistent pressure on Zilis and the Yale defense. With St. Lawrence skating on the power play, a Yale defenseman jumped on a loose puck in the crease with only 1:36 remaining in regulation. The delay of game penalty gave St. Lawrence a penalty shot on Zilis, with head coach Paul Flanagan choosing Harbec to try the shot. Though the St. Hubert, Quebec native put a great move on the goaltender in the slot, Zilis made a pad save on the goal line to send the game to overtime.

St. Lawrence immediately jumped all over Yale in the overtime session, out-shooting the Bulldogs 10-1 in the frame. The visitors found themselves short-handed at 8:23 of the extra stanza when Alyssa Clarke was whistled for checking. St. Lawrence, who was 0-for-5 on the power play in regulation, took only 16 seconds to cash in and win game one of the best-of-three series when junior Alison Domenico was stopped on the goal mouth, with the rebound bouncing right to Locke on the doorstep. The Brasher Falls, NY native finished the play and sent the Saints pouring on to the ice with the dramatic overtime game-winning goal.

"I thought both teams gave a great effort tonight, and I give a ton of credit to Shivon (Zilis) for doing a great job between the pipes. She obviously made some clutch saves that kept her team in it," said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. "This is an exciting win for us, but we know that they'll be hungry for a win tomorrow so we need to be ready to play."

St. Lawrence finished with a 57-15 advantage in shots on goal, with both teams scoring once with the extra skater (SLU 1-of-6, Yale 1-of-5). The Saints improved to 1-0-1 in overtime this season, with Guckian improving to 21-8-1 on the season after making 14 saves. Zilis took the loss for Yale despite making 55 stops.

Game two of the ECAC Quarterfinal series will be tomorrow, Saturday, March 1 at Appleton Arena. The puck will drop and the Saints and Bulldogs at 2:00pm.