In the quarterfinals of ECAC tournament play on March 2, the Colgate Raiders managed to take Cornell, the number two ranked team in the country, into overtime on two consecutive nights – no small feat.

With less than a minute to play on Saturday afternoon, the Raiders were poised to tie their series at a game apiece in the best-of-three ECAC Tournament quarterfinal against the Big Red. 

Unfortunately for the Raiders, their playoff dreams ended with a comeback offensive attack by Cornell that put the Big Red up 3-2 at the end of the night. Senior Cornell player Lauriane Rougeau managed to find the back of the net with only 53 second remaining in the final period, and her first-year teammate Brianne Jenner came up with a devastating steal and wrap-around goal with only one second remaining to polish of the Cornell comeback and a 3-2 decision for the Big Red over Colgate. Jenner was also the player who scored to end overtime in the first playoff game against Colgate on Friday evening. 

After dropping a hard fought loss on Friday afternoon, the Colgate women’s ice

hockey team came out onto the ice Saturday with a fire beneath their skates. A pair of first period goals put the Raiders up early, as senior Brittany Phillips and sophomore Melissa Kueber each tallied a goal near the end of the first period. Phillips fired one in for the Raiders on a power play with 2:59 showing, while Kueber found the back of the net with only nine

seconds to play in the opening frame. 

At the beginning of the second period the Raiders did anything but let up. The odds were not in their favor as senior Jenna Klynstra received a five-minute boarding call followed by junior Megan Wickens’ subsequent call for charging minor, meaning that Colgate was facing a 6:35 period of low numbers and dangerous hockey. Luckily for the Raiders, their two goal lead held through the penalties and into the third frame.

Cornell did not plan to go down without a fight, coming out fast and hard in the final

period as first-year Taylor Woods scored the first Big Red goal of the night only 53 seconds into the third frame. As Cornell’s offense became more aggressive, so did Colgate’s defense. The Raiders managed to keep the Big Red scoreless for almost the entirety of the third period. 

With 1:10 remaining in the game, Cornell pulled their goalie in an attempt to turn the offensive tides in their favor. 

A face off on the right side of Colgate first-year goalie Ashlynne Rando was won by Jenner, who fired the puck to teammate Rougeau, a pass that led to a goal by Rougeau and a 2-2 tie with only 53 seconds remaining. When Jenner was able to nab a steal from the Raiders and sneak one past Rando in the final second of the game, the series was decided in Cornell’s favor.

Wickens and sophomore Miriam Drubel each recorded assists on the goal by Phillips, while Kueber’s score went unassisted. Rando tallied up 42 saves for the afternoon and 85 saves for the weekend.

Colgate’s first season under new head coach Greg Fargo saw some outstanding hockey matches. The team closed the season 11-21-3, qualifying for the eighth seed in the ECAC tournament after two tremendous victories in the previous weeks.