Quinnipiac Women's Ice Hockey Advances To ECAC Hockey Championship Game With 2-1 Win Against St. Lawrence

Saturday, March 5

Hamden, Conn.

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

29-2-5 (16-2-4ECAC)

St. Lawrence University

17-15-6 (9-8-5ECAC)

St. Lawrence

Quinnipiac

Quinnipiac Women's Ice Hockey Advances To ECAC Hockey Championship Game With 2-1 Win Against St. Lawrence

3/5/2016 3:26:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut - ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament top seed Quinnipiac women's ice hockey's Randi Marcon scored the game-winning goal as the nationally-ranked No. 4/4 Bobcats advanced to the league championship game for the first time in program history with a thrilling 2-1 win against St. Lawrence.

The Bobcats will play in their first ECAC Hockey Championship on Sunday, Mar. 6 at 2 PM at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center against the No. 2 seed Clarkson who defeated No. 4 seed Colgate, 5-2, in the other semifinal game.

Quinnipiac, who won its first ECAC Hockey Regular Season Championship and is hosting its first league championship series, entered Saturday's game having not allowed a goal against St. Lawrence in the teams' two regular-season meetings this year. The Bobcats won at St. Lawrence, 5-0 on Nov. 21, before blanking the Saints, 3-0 on Feb. 12 in Hamden. The last goal Quinnipiac allowed against St. Lawrence came during a 2-2 tie in Hamden, Connecticut on Nov. 22, 2014.

After a scoreless first period that featured plenty of speed and few whistles, resulting in a real-time log of twenty-seven minutes, the Bobcats finally broke through just under eight minutes into the second period. Emma Greco (Burlington, Ontario) received a pass from Taryn Baumgardt (Innisfail, Alberta) just aboved the blue line in the neutral zone, cross the blue line and stick-handled around a pair of defenders before skating between the face-off circles and blasting a shot over the right shoulder of St. Lawrence goalie Grace Harrison to give Quinnipiac a 1-0 lead.

The goal was Greco's third point in the last four games and the second of her career. Greco scored her first in the Bobcats' ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal match-up against Rensselaer on Feb. 20. T.T. Cianfarano (Oswego, New York) also picked up her 24^th assist of the year on the play, to give the league's Player of the Year 52 points on the season.

2016 ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Year Sydney Rossman (Excelsior, Minnesota) was up to her usual tricks, turning back the first 18 of St. Lawrence's shots on goals through the first two periods. Rossman's scoreless streak against St. Lawrence extended to 180:17 before Saints sophomore Hanna Miller potted her 11^th goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 just twenty-five seconds into the third period.

The battled continued through much of the remainder of the period, with both teams trading Grade-A opportunities. Rossman was outstanding, turning back a host of shots from close range while Harrison was equally impressive in frustrating the Bobcats' forwards. It wasn't until the closing minutes when the Bobcats' fore check dominated the Saints defense.

The game-winning play came when Lindsey West (Ajax, Ontario) bombed a puck on goal from just below the blue line. Raquel Pennoyer (Rehoboth, Massachusetts) slid across the crease and tipped the shot before it caromed off of Harrison's pads and kicked-out to the left to Meghan Turner (Bedford, New Hampshire). Turner wristed a shot on goal that bounced off of Harrison's chest and sat above the crease where Marcon was waiting to deposit the game-winner.

Quinnipiac has now defeated St. Lawrence in three-straight ECAC Hockey tournament games after sweeping a quarterfinal series in 2014. The Bobcats and Saints also met in the 2013 quarterfinals.