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ITHACA, N.Y. -- Patrick McCarron scored his third goal of the season, but it was little solace for the Cornell men's hockey team in a 4-1 loss to Clarkson on Saturday in Game 2 of an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink. The teams will now play a decisive Game 3 at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Special teams played a huge role in the game, with fifth-seeded Clarkson (21-16-4) scored twice on five power-play opportunities. The first started the scored seven minutes in, when Jeff DiNallo had a tap-in from the top of the crease on Allan McPherson's feed from along the goal line to Cornell goalie Andy Iles' left.

The Golden Knights stretched the lead to three goals by the middle of the second period on a pair of goals less than two minutes apart. Paul Geiger's shot from the left point was deflected off the crossbar and in by Christian Powers, then James de Haas struck at 7:33 when his shot from the center point sailed through traffic and by Iles' blocker for the second power-play goal of the evening.

Fourth-seeded Cornell (16-9-5) got on the board at 11:09. Christian Hilbrich started the play by forcing a turnover on the forecheck behind the Clarkson net. Brian Ferlin slid the puck from beside the post to goalie Steve Perry's right to Cole Bardreau at the hash marks. His pass came across to McCarron, who beat Perry with a shot low to the stick side.

The Big Red started to seize the momentum, but much of that was quashed with a major penalty for contact to the head in the final minute of the period. Cornell had the final three power plays of the game – all in the third period – including an offering from John McCarron in the right circle that was gloved by Perry.

With Iles pulled in favor of an extra attacker, the Big Red came within inches of making the score 3-2, but Reece Willcox's shot from the slot pinged off the post to Perry's right with less than two minutes to play. Jarrett Burton then capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 8 seconds to play.

The other three ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series were all wrapped by the higher seeds Saturday. Top-seeded Union advanced with a 4-2 victory over Dartmouth, which means the Dutchmen will take on the winner of Sunday's Cornell-Clarkson game in the semifinals on Friday in Lake Placid. The other semifinal will pit second-seeded Colgate and third-seeded Quinnipiac.