No. 8 Women's Hockey Falls to No. 6 St. Lawrence in ECAC Hockey Semifinals

Saturday, March 8

Cambridge, Mass.

4:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

St. Lawrence

No. 8 Women's Hockey Falls to No. 6 St. Lawrence in ECAC Hockey Semifinals

3/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - In a game filled with penalties and power plays, second seeded St. Lawrence netted three goals on the man advantage to a single power play goal from the third seeded Big Green as the Saints defeated Dartmouth, 3-1, in the ECAC Hockey semifinals.

The two teams combined for 15 power play chances, which counted for about 30 minutes of the contest. St. Lawrence was 3-7 on the power play, while the Big Green was 1-8 with the extra skater.

"We lost to a great team," said Dartmouth coach Mark Hudak. "We needed good goaltending tonight and we got that, but we couldn't capitalize on our opportunities."

Junior Carli Clemis (Taber, Alta.) stepped up for the Big Green on multiple occasions and made 35 saves. It was the sixth time this season with 30 or more saves for Clemis and the third game in a row. Junior Shannon Bowman (Leamington, Ont.) tallied the lone power play goal for the Big Green for her ninth of the season and sixth on the man advantage.

Dartmouth (18-8-6, 13-5-4 ECAC Hockey) earned the first power play of the afternoon with 15:34 remaining in the opening period and capitalized for the 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the man advantage. Junior Maggie Kennedy (West Hartford, Conn.) sent a pass from the back of the net that was tipped by sophomore Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) and went to the far post where junior Shannon Bowman lifted it over the left pad of St. Lawrence goaltender Meaghan Guckian. For Dartmouth, it was the ninth time in the last 10 games that the Big Green had posted a goal with the extra skater.

St. Lawrence (28-8-1, 18-3-0 ECAC Hockey) got its first opportunity with the extra skater with seven minutes left in the period. Dartmouth broke up multiple passes and had a shorthanded chance as Bowman skate in on Guckian, but fired the puck high and wide.

After one period of play, Dartmouth was outshot 15-6, but had the 1-0 lead. Junior netminder Carli Clemis (Taber, Alta.) was up the challenge in the first period, including a small fury at the conclusion of the period as she made two point blank saves as time expired.

The Saints got their third period chance of the game a minute into the second and after getting turned away by Clemis on the first two shots, Sabrina Harbec evened the score at 1-1 with a power play goal. Dartmouth failed to clear the zone and Chelsea found a wide open Harbec on the opposite side and she powered it by Clemis.

Grills gave St. Lawrence its first lead of the game with 2:13 left in the second with the Saints' second power play goal of the period. Annie Guay fired a one-timer from the point, which was saved by Clemis, but the rebound fell to Grills and she buried it top shelf for the 2-1 lead.

The second period played evenly between the teams as Dartmouth had a slight 12-11 advantage in shots, but in a game filled with power plays St. Lawrence netted two goals in three chances, while Dartmouth could not find in the net in three power play opportunities.

In the third period, Dartmouth had few opportunities in the first five minutes of play as the Big Green crashed the net after initial shots, but Guckian was able to hold and keep Dartmouth from evening the score.

The Saints netted their third power play goal of the afternoon as Marianna Locke redirected a shot infront to give St. Lawrence a 3-1 lead with 14:00 left in the final frame. Britteny Mashmeyer fired a slapshot from the point that Locke tipped by Clemis, who was shielded by Locke and could not locate the puck.

Just a few minutes later Guay broke in on Clemis and looked to increase the lead as she went to the backhand, but Clemis reached out and denied her with the blocker at the near post to keep it a 3-1 game.

With the loss, the Big Green will now be waiting until 6 p.m. on Sunday evening to see if it will be moving on to the NCAA Tournament.