Potsdam, NY – With only one second left in a surprising overtime period, Harvard stole home-ice away from the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team with a 3-2 victory over the Golden Knights in front of 342 fans Saturday afternoon at Cheel Arena.

The Golden Knights moved to 21-12-1 overall and 12-8 in the ECACHL with the loss while Harvard improved to 14-11-4 and 10-6-4. The Green and Gold lost home-ice advantage with the weekend sweep to Dartmouth and Harvard, falling to fifth place in the conference. Clarkson, ranked 8th in the country, will travel to Harvard, polled at 10th in the country, next week for the three-game series to decide the semifinals of the ECACHL.

The Crimson carried play in the final 10 minutes of action, including the five-minute overtime period. With the play behind the net for most of the final 18 seconds following the last face off of the game, it appeared as if the game was safe for Clarkson and a first-round bus trip would be unnecessary, but the puck trickled out in front of the net where senior Jennifer Raimondi was in perfect position to flick the puck into the top of the net for the game-winner for Harvard.

In a reversal of play from the previous day, the Golden Knights carried play in the opening period against Harvard. Clarkson recorded six shots on net in the first few minutes before the Crimson were able to tally their first attempt on goal. Clarkson’s tenacity was rewarded early in the period when sophomore Meghan Park (Petrolia, ONT) scored her third goal of the season at 4:16. Ashley Shaidle (Hudson, OH) sent a pass out from behind the bottom of the right circle to Park, who took her time and slid a shot into the corner of the net from near the blue line. Harvard goaltender Ali Boe appeared to be screened and was unable to stop the shot.

With a slashing penalty called on Boe with less than two minutes remaining in the first period, the Golden Knights scored a power-play marker with only 20 seconds left on the clock. Shaidle received a pass in the slot and poked the puck past the stick side of Boe to make it 2-0. Sophie Doyon (Victoriaville, QUE) and Brooke Beazer (Kingston, ONT) each earned assists. Clarkson closed the period with a 15-5 shot advantage.

The second period was full of long stretches of play without many chances on net as the two teams combined for just one pipe shot and one shot on goal in the first half of the period. It appeared as if the period would end without a score, but with only 17 seconds remaining the Crimson cut the Clarkson advantage in half. After a deflection by a Clarkson defenseman, the puck bounded out to the left side where Harvard’s Liza Solley collected it and scored her ninth goal of the season from a near impossible angle to make the score 2-1. Raimondi and Sarah Wilson were each credited with assists on the goal for Harvard.

Third-period play repeated that of the second for the first five minutes as neither team could muster a shot on net. Clarkson spent the middle 10 minutes of the frame with a solid shot advantage, including several near misses as Harvard goaltender Ali Boe came through with some point-blank stops. In the final minutes of the period, the Crimson also enjoyed several chances, taking numerous wrist shots from the circles, but none of the attempts could get past Clarkson goaltender Kira Hurley (Pickering, ONT) until the Crimson pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Another late-period goal helped the Crimson pull even with only 27 seconds left in the frame as defenseman Lindsay Weaver poked in her third goal of the season in a scrum in front of the net. Raimondi and Jenny Brine each assisted on the game-tying tally.

Hurley finished with 14 saves in 64 minutes, 59 seconds while Ali Boe came on strong in the final three frames to make 30 saves as Clarkson out shot the Crimson 32-17. Three penalties were called in the entire contest and none were whistled after the end of the first period.