Saints Come Back to Earn Overtime Win

SCORING	1	2	3	OT	FINAL
Clarkson (16-12-6, 10-8-4)	0	2	1	0	3
St. Lawrence (22-9-3, 16-5-1)	0	1	2	1	4

Scoring Summary
2nd - 03:01	Marie-Jo Gaudet (Clarkson)
2nd - 03:30	Alley Bero (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 15:12	Melissa Waldie (Clarkson)
3rd - 01:52	Juana Baribeau (Clarkson)
3rd - 16:27	Karell Emard (St. Lawrence)
3rd - 18:57	Carson Duggan (St. Lawrence)
OT - 04:11	Vanessa Emond (St. Lawrence)

Clarkson	St. Lawrence
G: 3 Players (#12, #23, #25 - 1) A: 3 Players (#7, #21, #27 - 1) Sh: Britney Selina - 5 Sv: Lauren Dahm - 26	G: 4 Players (#9, #14, #22, #76 - 1) A: 5 Players (#6, #9, #12, #14, #76 - 1) Sh: Karell Emard - 5 Sv: Brittony Chartier - 17

TEAM STATISTICS	Clarkson	St. Lawrence
Power Plays	0 for 3	0 for 4
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	4 (8)	3 (6)
Shots on Goal	20	30
Face Offs Won	26	31

full stats

Boxscore

CANTON, N.Y. -- The 716 fans at Appleton Arena were treated to a fantastic hockey game on Friday night, as the St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team came from two goals down with under four minutes to play in regulation to force overtime where they picked up a 4-3 win over Clarkson University in game one of their best-of-three ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal series. First-year student Vanessa Emond scored the overtime game-winner, while junior Karell Emard and senior Alison Domenico helped send the game to the extra session.

The No. 2 seeded Saints (23-9-3, 16-5-1) entered the third period trailing 2-1 despite outshooting the No. 7 seeded Golden Knights (16-13-6, 10-8-4) by a solid 21-14 margin.  The home team improved to 2-9-3 on the year when trailing after two periods, while the loss was the first for Clarkson when leading after 40 minutes (12-1-4).

"I thought it was a great game, and we are very fortunate to come out with a 1-0 lead in the series," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells, who earned his first career playoff victory.  "Brittony (Chartier) made a huge save to keep the score at 3-1 and we provided some offense down the stretch to claw our way back into it.  You have to tip your hat to Clarkson though, as they had us on our heels."

The two teams played a very even, physical first period with the home team building a narrow 7-5 advantage in shots on goal.  Though there were no goals in the opening 20 minutes, St. Lawrence had the best chance when junior Britni Smith's slap shot beat Clarkson netminder Lauren Dahm but bounced off of the crossbar and out of play.

Clarkson's Marie-Jo Gaudet would put the Knights on top 1-0 at 3:01 of the second period.  The senior forward used a slick move to elude a defender and wristed a shot over Chartier's shoulder and into the right corner of the net for her 21st of the season.  However, the Saints would respond only 29 seconds later to even the score at 1-1 when rookie Alley Bero scored on a breakaway for her 12th of the season.  Emond hit her classmate with a beautiful outlet pass that sprung the Akwesasne, NY native, who used a nice backhand move to beat Dahm and even the scoring.

Chartier did all she could to keep the score tied including a great breakaway stop on Britney Selina midway through the period.  However, Clarkson would regain their lead at 2-1 when Melissa Waldie tallied her 15th of the season off of a turnover in front of the St. Lawrence net.  Waldie was able to squeeze a high shot between Chartier's shoulder and the near post for the 2-1 advantage with Selina and Genevieve Lavoie assisting on the goal.

Though Chartier continued to play at a high level, including making another one-on-one stop against Selina to end the second period, Clarkson's Juana Baribeau would take only 1:52 into the third period to give the Golden Knights their largest lead at 3-1.  After Gabrielle Kosziwka blocked a shot at the Clarkson blue line, the puck bounced into the neutral zone where Baribeau picked it up and moved in on a breakaway against Chartier.  This time, the St. Lawrence goalie could not stop a low shot between her pads as Baribeau earned her 18th goal of the year.

Clarkson did a nice job of containing the Saints' offense throughout the period including two power play chances that resulted in only three shots on goal.  As the clock reached the 16 minute mark, Coach Wells opted to pull Chartier in favor of an extra attacker.  With the puck deep in Clarkson territory, Bero cycled the puck to senior Carson Duggan who flung a pass to Emard in the slot.  The Richelieu, QC native ripped a shot past Dahm at 16:27 for her 10th of the year to pull the Saints back to within a goal at 3-2.

Despite Chartier returning to the net, she would again be pulled with 1:20 remaining in regulation for the extra forward.  This time, it was Domenico who was able to electrify the home crowd as she redirected a pass from Emard that beat Dahm's left leg for her 15th of the year to even the scoring at 3-3.  It was the second time this season the Saints have scored two extra attacker goals in the same game (versus Boston University, Oct. 19, 2008).

With all of the momentum on their side, the Saints picked up right where they left off in the overtime session and scored the game-winning goal only 4:11 into the extra session.  Emond collected the puck behind the Clarkson net and when she realized no defender was near her, she darted for the front of the net.  Dahm appeared to make the save, but as she fell to the ice, the referee began emphatically pointing to the net, showing that the puck had indeed crossed the line to give the Scarlet and Brown a miraculous 4-3 come-from-behind victory over their cross-town rivals as the Saints poured onto the ice at Appleton Arena to celebrate.

"Certainly winning a game like that can give you momentum, but we know Clarkson is going to come back hungry tomorrow and we need to be prepared," added Coach Wells.  "(Marie-Jo) Gaudet is truly a special and fun player to watch."

Dahm finished with 26 saves but falls to 12-11-5 on the year while Chartier improves to 23-9-3 after making 17 stops.  Neither team was able to get any offense generated on the power play, as Clarkson was 0-for-3 and St. Lawrence finished 0-for-4.

St. Lawrence will look to sweep Clarkson from the ECAC Hockey playoffs for the second time in three seasons when the teams take the ice tomorrow, Saturday, February 28 at Appleton Arena.  The puck will drop on game two at 4:00pm.