#5 Colgate Headed to Fifth-Straight Championship
ITHACA, N.Y.— No. 5 Colgate used a two-goal second period to power past No. 7 St. Lawrence, 4-2, in the ECAC Hockey Semifinal Friday night inside Lynah Rink. After the game was delayed by two hours due to the other semifinal going to triple overtime, the Raiders started hot with three unanswered goals before surviving a late Saints rally and punching a ticket to their fifth-consecutive ECAC Hockey Championship.
"What a night," head coach Stefan Decosse said. "In the ECAC, there's always something. We had to push back the start time a couple hours with the game before but I'm super proud that through that our focus remained steady. I'm very proud of the way we showed up today. The first 40 was phenomenal. We know St. Lawrence is a good team and wasn't going to give up, and they didn't. But I'm just incredibly proud of our steadiness and unity through those stormy moments."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Sophomore Madeline Palumbo's 10th goal of the season beat St. Lawrence's netminder glove side just inside the near pipe to put Colgate ahead 1-0.
- Sophomore Emma Pais doubled the advantage with a tap in goal after first-year Alexia Aubin expertly threaded a puck between two Saints on a breakaway.
- Halfway through the second stanza, first-year Georgia Sambrano sniped her second goal of the season to extend Colgate's lead to three.
- St. Lawrence stormed back with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart with over eight minutes remaining in the third, but an empty-net goal from junior Elyssa Biederman iced the win for the Raiders.
GAME NOTES
- Colgate moves to 12-3 versus ranked opponents this season, and is 22-8 in the ECAC Hockey playoffs since 2015.
- The Raiders sealed their fourth-consecutive season with 30+ wins.
- Senior goalie Hannah Murphy broke the program record for most wins in a season with her 26th win of the campaign.
- Sambrano earned the first game-winning goal of her career in the win.
UP NEXT
No. 5 Colgate (30-7, 19-4 ECAC) meets No. 3 Cornell (23-4-5, 16-2-4 ECAC) looking for its record-breaking fifth-straight ECAC Championship tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. inside Lynah Rink.
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