Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell came from behind three times in their playoff opener on Friday night and still needed overtime to pull out a wild 5-4 win over Colgate at Lynah Rink in Game One of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals.
 
The Big Red got a game-winning goal 39 seconds into the overtime period from Brianne Jenner – her third of the night – after tying the game in the waning seconds of the third period to force overtime.
 
Monika Leck had the game-tying goal by crashing the crease after a Jenner cut inside with 47 seconds showing on the third-period clock, and she assisted on the game-winner 86 seconds later.
 
“Obviously an exciting game,” Cornell coach Doug Derraugh said. “Colgate played hard, put us on our heels early. We fought back and continued to work at it, continued to plug away and got the job done in the end.”
 
Colgate (11-20-3), the eighth seed in the ECAC Hockey Tournament, held leads of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 throughout the evening, but the top-seeded Big Red (24-5-1) was resilient each time.
 
Jenner scored in the second period to tie the game at 1-1, Erin Barley-Maloney and Jenner tallied twice in the third period to knot the game at 3-3, and Leck's goal with an extra attacker and time running short forced overtime in front of nearly 1,500 fans. The Big Red took a 1-0 lead in the series and can advance to the next round of the playoffs with a win against Colgate on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Lauren Slebodnick earned her 21st win of the season, stopping 15 shots in a game where Cornell outshot the visiting Raiders 48-19. She now has sole possession of second place in team history with 48 career wins.
 
Though Cornell controlled much of the play, Colgate took advantage of its opportunities on the power play. Each team had three goals with the man advantage, and four of five Big Red goals came with an extra skater on the ice.
 
Jenner's game winner was the team's only five-on-five goal of the evening. After taking a shot from in close that was saved by Colgate's Ashlynne Rando, she skated the rebound to the end boards and passed to Lauriane Rougeau. Rougeau came up the right side and back into the corner where she threw the puck in front. It trickled out to Jenner, who wristed the puck into the net through traffic to spark a bench-emptying celebration for the Big Red.
 
Leck's goal breathed new life into the Big Red, which had fallen behind for the third time in the game on a Colgate power play marker with just 2:35 left in the contest. Jenner took a pass from Cassandra Poudrier into the left side of the offensive zone, and she wristed a shot on Rando from a bad angle. The puck bounced off Rando and into the air, and that's where Leck charged into the crease to knock the puck in.
 
“That was exactly the kind of style we need to play in the playoffs,” Jenner said. “Leck made a great play and drove the net. You've got to get some dirty goals and some grinder goals this time of the year.”
 
Early on, the evening had all the makings of an upset.
 
Cornell got itself into penalty trouble in the first period, committing infractions just nine second apart to put the Raiders up by two skaters. With the extra advantage, Colgate was able to trickle the puck through the crease from behind the net, finding Miriam Drubel on the open side for a power play goal.
 
The Big Red, on the power play late in the first period, then eliminated its own advantage when Alyssa Gagliardi took a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind. The infraction also came with a game misconduct, and Gagliardi was ejected from the game.
 
“She's one of our great players, and we just have to work harder as a team and we have to do it for her,” Rougeau said. “I know that if she was on the ice she would give her heart, so we have to give everything we have and leave no doubt on the ice.”
 
Once the second period began, Cornell was able to kill off the major penalty thanks to a two-minute chunk being played at even strength when the Raiders went to the penalty box. And shortly after the major expired, the Big Red got another man-advantage opportunity and converted.
 
Erin Barley-Maloney brought the puck around the net and took a shot quickly on Ashylnne Rando. The Colgate keeper made the initial save, but Jenner threw the puck back into the crease from the left side of the cage. The puck skipped off a Colgate player's skate and went into the net, tying the game at 1-1 at the 5:31 mark of the second.
 
But an unfortunate sequence 90 seconds later gave the visitors the lead once again. A weak outlet pass from Colgate's defensive zone was sent into the middle of the ice where Laura Fortino was ready to make an easy play. Just before she made contact with the puck, though, her stick snapped and the puck kept going. Jocelyn Simpson, suddenly with a three-on-one, passed the puck to Drubel who beat Slebodnick for her second goal of the game.
 
Colgate extended its lead to 3-1 early in the third period on the power play, but that sparked goals from Barley-Maloney and Jenner to re-tie the game at 3-3. Barley-Maloney put home a rebound of a Jenner shot, and Jenner's goal came on a one-timer pass from Rougeau. Slebodnick also assisted on that goal, giving her three assists on the year.
 
Colgate made it 4-3 when Brittany Phillips knocked the puck in a looping arc over Slebodnick from right in front at the 17:25. That was followed a minute and a half later by Leck's game-tying strike.
 
Cornell is now 13-1 against New York state teams this season and is 13-1 in the ECAC Hockey Tournament over the last four seasons. Cornell also remains unbeaten at Lynah Rink this year, moving to 15-0-1 at home.
 
Colgate and Cornell continue their ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals series at Lynah Rink tomorrow at 4 p.m. Cornell would advance to the conference semifinals with a victory on Saturday, and the team would host that game and the conference final in Ithaca as well.
 
“Coming into tomorrow the pressure's on them,” Rougeau said, “but we also have to focus  because we don't want to play Sunday. We need to come out strong tomorrow.”