HAMDEN, Conn. – No. 7 Colgate Women's Hockey dropped a tough 5-2 decision to No. 5-ranked Clarkson here Saturday afternoon in the ECAC Hockey Semifinals.
 
Colgate, which was playing in just its second league semifinal contest, scored back-to-back goals 18 seconds apart in the opening period to take a 2-1 edge into the first intermission.
 
But the Golden Knights knotted the score on the power play two minutes into the middle frame. They then recorded three more unanswered goals throughout the remainder of the contest to earn the win and advance to Sunday's championship game.
 
Despite Saturday's outcome, the Raiders have a lot to be proud of. Greg Fargo has his team on the rise, as Colgate posted a program-best 22 wins this season to go along with a .671 winning percentage. Both of those marks set program records for the Raiders' Division I era.
 
Colgate returns all 10 of its double-digit point scorers from this season, including nine underclassmen.
 
The Raiders do, however, lose seniors Ashlynne Rando, Nicole Gass and Katelyn Parker to graduation. Rando etched her name into the Colgate records book and finished the season with a .923 save percentage to go along with her 11-7-4 record. Gass played in 138 games for the Maroon and White, notching seven goals and a team-best 37 assists. Parker closed out her Colgate career with a team-high 141 games played. The Bellingham, Washington, native tallied four goals and six helpers for her 10 career points.
 
In Saturday's game, Megan Sullivan scored Colgate's opening goal 17:46 into the first frame thanks to help from Olivia Zafuto. Less than 20 seconds later Annika Zalewski handed the Raiders the go-ahead tally after Shae Labbe played a great pass into the slot for the sophomore to finish off.
 
Rando finished with 27 saves between the pipes, including 11 stops in the opening period.

Bottom Line
• No. 5 Clarkson 5, No. 7 Colgate 2

Won-Lost Records
• Clarkson advances to the championship game and faces host Quinnipiac on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Golden Knights bring their 29-3-5 record into that match.
• Colgate closes out its season with a 22-9-7 overall record.
 
Key Raider Info
• Sullivan and Zalewski both netted their team leading 16th goal of the season.
• Zafuto and Labbe were credited with their 14th and 15th assist, respectively.
• Rando pushed aside 27 saves.
 
Raider Goals
• 1st period: Sullivan, from Zafuto; Zalewski with an assist to Labbe
• 2nd period: no goals.
• 3rd period: no goals.
 
Scoring Recap
• Colgate quickly awarded the Golden Knights a power play opportunity 5:30 into the contest when it was called for checking. Clarkson converted exactly a minute into the man-up advantage when Shannon MacAulay found the back of the net.
• A little over 11 minutes later, Colgate knotted the score at 1-all after Sullivan's tally. Rookie Zafuto intercepted the puck just inside Colgate's defensive zone and quickly lobbed it up to Sullivan in neutral ice. The sophomore quickly skated past the Clarkson defender, sparking a breakaway opportunity. Sullivan then shot stick side, blasting it past the Golden Knights netminder Shae Tiley.
• Just 18 seconds after that, Zalewski made it a 2-1 Raiders edge when she and Labbe connected. First-year Labbe collected the puck behind the Golden Knights' goal and quickly played it over to Zalewski, who was waiting in front of the net. The sophomore then lifted the puck past the shoulder of Tiley for the Raiders' final goal.
• Colgate took that one-goal edge into the first intermission, but Clarkson erased any deficit early in the middle frame when MacAulay converted on her second power play goal of the game.
• Then midway through the period the Golden Knights tacked on the eventual game-winner following Jessica Gillham's tally.
• Colgate tried to rally in the final period but two more goals late ultimately sealed Clarkson the win.

Facts & Figures
• Clarkson finished 2-for-5 on the power play, while Colgate went scoreless at 0-for-1.
• The Golden Knights held the 32-17 edge on shots, including two periods with double-digit shot attempts.
• Both teams went 31-of-62 in the faceoff circle. Zalewski was Colgate's best faceoff specialist at 14-of-19, followed by Breanne Wilson-Bennett's 10-of-24 mark.
 
More Key Info
• Rando closed out her final year in the Maroon and White with 27 saves, shifting her season total to 579.
• Bailey Larson finishes tied for seventh all-time in Colgate's records book with 32 season points.
• 10 Raiders posted double-figure points on the season, including eight student-athletes with 20+ points.

From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Greg Fargo: (on the game) "It was a game that had a lot of ups and downs. There was a lot of emotion in it. For us, we seemed to get in a little penalty trouble that really affected the game. In particular their five power plays to our one, and that's definitely a momentum swinger. They did a good job to capitalize on the ones they had.
 
"In the end we just couldn't find that next goal that we needed after being up 2-1. I give their team a ton of credit, they come at you and smother you really hard. We knew we would be in tough one today against a really well-coached team and one that doesn't have too many holes in their lineup. Credit to Clarkson for a great game but overall I couldn't be more proud of our players this year for their efforts and in particular the three seniors that are moving on."
 
(on what his team has been able to accomplish this year) "This has been an incredible year for our program. We've come a long way. There weren't too many people who projected us to be here at the beginning but the group of 22 people in the locker room they did believe. I couldn't be more proud of just how we approached every single day and wanting to get better and wanting to do what was best for the team in any situation we've faced. We had some ups and down, we had some tough losses, some great wins, but we always responded in the right way. Not just proud of the play on the ice but more importantly just the people in and around our program it's at an all-time high and I couldn't be more proud of the group."

Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance for Colgate's second ever ECAC Hockey women's semifinal playoff game was 945.