For the third consecutive game the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team skated to an overtime tie at Cheel Arena, picking up a valuable point in ECAC Hockey action while extending its unbeaten streak to seven games with Friday afternoon’s 3-3 draw with 10th-ranked Harvard.
The Golden Knights, who are 4-0-3 since mid-January, stand at 11-13-6 overall and move into a tie for fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with an 8-6-4 league mark. Clarkson hosts Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon, beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the final regular-season game in Potsdam.
In an evenly played opening period, Clarkson struck first taking advantage of a string of Harvard penalties late in the stanza to grab a 1-0 lead. Sophomore defenseman Hailey Wood (Lethbridge, ALB) tallied her third goal of the season with a shot from the top of the right circle, a power-play marker at 17:42. Freshman Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, ONT) set up the goal with a pass out of the corner to Wood at the point.
Harvard (13-8-4, 12-4-3) gained the advantage midway through the middle frame with a pair of goals 2:17 apart. Jillian Dempsey put the visitors on the scoreboard with a low shot from the slot that found its way through traffic in front at 10:14 for her seventh goal of the season. At 12:31, Elizabeth Parker netted her second goal of the year, knocking in a rebound off a shot by Alisa Baumgartner.
Just over a minute later, the Knights tied the game on freshman Rattray's breakaway score, her fifth goal of the season, at 13:40. Freshman Brittany Styner (Calgary, ALB) and junior defenseman Danielle Boudreau (Whitby, ONT) set up the goal.
Clarkson came out strong to start the third and went on top 1:52 in as the Knights’ all-time leading goal scorer, senior Melissa Waldie (Newmarket, ONT) knocked in her own rebound for her 14th goal of the season and 66th career marker. Junior Juana Baribeau (Amos, QUE) earned the assist.
The Knights’ lead was short lived, however, as Dempsey knocked in a rebound in the slot off of Leanna Coskern’s shot to tie the game 3-3 at 4:09.
Harvard outshot Clarkson 36-21. Freshman Erica Howe (Ottawa, ONT) posted 33 saves, including three stops in the five-minute overtime session. Laura Bellamy made 18 saves for the Crimson. The Knights were 1-of-4 on the power play and shut down Harvard on all three of its man-advantage chances.
