Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell women's hockey team withstood a three-goal third period as they held off Rensselaer 5-4, to claim a spot in the ECAC Hockey Championship game on Sunday. The Big Red led, 5-1, after two periods, and held off the Engineers, who scored three goals in the game's final 10 minutes, including a pair of extra attacker tallies.

Liz Zorn had a pair of goals and Lauriane Rougeau added three assists for the Big Red (18-8-6), which advances to its first ECAC Hockey championship game in school history. Whitney Naslund had a pair of goals for the Engineers, whose season ends at 16-15-6.

Catherine White, Laura Danforth and Amber Overguard each added a goal for Cornell, with White and Danforth both adding an assist. Karlee Overguard, Laura Fortino and Chelsea Karpenko each had an assist on the night for Cornell. Amanda Mazzotta made 10 saves in earning the win for Cornell, which finished the night 0-for-2 on the power play.

For Rensselaer, Kendra Dunlop and Laura Gersten each added a goal, while Naslund had a three-point night with an assist on Dunlop's goal. Dunlop and Allison Wright also tallied a pair of assists. Allysen Weidner and Sydney O'Keefe also chipped in an assist on the night. Sonja van der Bliek had 24 saves in picking up the loss for the Engineers, who went 1-for-2 on the power play.

The two teams finished the first period knotted at one, with both clubs scoring similar goals. Cornell got on the board first at the 3:26 mark of the period, with Catherine White taking a pass from Lauriane Rougeau on the breakaway and lifting a shot past van der Bliek. Nine minutes later, it was Dunlop knotting the score, taking a pass from Naslund and wristing a shot past Mazzotta from the faceoff dot to the sophomore's right.

In the second period, Cornell jumped all over the Engineers, out-shooting Rensselaer by an 18-1 margin. The first of those shots, a weak dribbler off the stick of Danforth, found its way through the legs of van der Bliek just 41 seconds into the period. Nearly four minutes later, Zorn potted her first goal of the night with Karpenko collecting an assist. With 8:06 gone in the second period, Cornell went ahead by a 4-1 score as Overguard followed up a rebound off a shot from Danforth into the open net past van der Bliek, prompting Rensselaer coach John Burke to call his only timeout. That didn't seem to help stem the Cornell rush, as Zorn scored what turned out to be the eventual game-winner at the 13:10 mark of the period, ripping a shot from the point that was redirected by a Rensselaer stick past van der Bliek.

Despite being down by four goals after two periods, the Engineers didn't give up, as they came at the Big Red from the opening faceoff of the period. The pressure finally paid off as Rensselaer closed the gap on the deficit with 10:52 gone in the period when Naslund scored the first of her two goals.

Then, with Danforth in the penalty box for a tripping penalty, Burke pulled van der Bliek to set up a 6-on-4 advantage, one that paid off with Gersten scoring an extra-attacker goal with 15:25 gone in the period. Three minutes later, Naslund cut across the crease with another extra attacker with 1:32 to play, but the Big Red held off the Engineers for the final 90 seconds as they sealed the victory.

Cornell will play for its first ECAC Hockey tournament championship in program history on Sunday when it takes on Clarkson, a 3-2 winner in the other semifinal on Friday night in Potsdam, N.Y. Cornell and Clarkson split the two meetings this season, with each team winning on home ice. The winner of Sunday's championship game will earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.