HAMILTON – Danielle Serdachny's final-minute tally lifted the No. 5 Colgate women's hockey program to a 3-2 victory over No. 7 Clarkson on Thursday evening. After Clarkson was first to light the lamp, the Raiders answered with a goal a period to improve to a 4-1-0 record on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In a fast start to the night, Clarkson scored on a breakaway through the five-hole just a few minutes in for an early 1-0 advantage. From there, Colgate gained momentum when it earned the first power play of the night, but Clarkson would return their skater before any damage could be done. In the final minutes of the period, Kirwan evened the game with her first of the season as the ECAC foes went to the locker room in a 1-1 tie.
In continued nonconference competition, it was shortly into the second period that
Tanner Gates fed the puck up the ice to ensure a 2-on-1 opportunity for the Raiders, one in which
Noemi Neubauerova cashed in to make it a 2-1 nearly halfway through regulation.
Although Colgate went onto another power play chance shortly after its tally, Clarkson would tie the game at 2-2 with a scrappy goal in front of the crease in the final minutes of the period.
The third period opened with a long stretch of play similar to the first in which the teams saw minimal whistles and stretches across either end of the sheet.
Maggie MacEachern was able to scope out a couple of quality looks, but the Raiders skated on in the tie.
Colgate's best opportunity came with 3:19 remaining in regulation as
Kayle Osborne made a pair of spectacular saves and the Raiders went onto a power play. With the momentum of the man advantage, the Raiders were able to strike with just 38.2 remaining in regulation behind a
Danielle Serdachny snipe to the top shelf. Although Clarkson opted to pull its netminder for the remainder, the Raiders were able to forge ahead for a 3-2 victory.
COLGATE SCORING PLAYS
• Period 1 | 16:25 – The Raiders hammered the net with multiple shots, before the puck came out of the cluster straight to Kirwan in the slot. With the defense tangled up, Kirwan fired it to the top shelf to open the scoring.
• Period 2 | 7:17 – There was a pass up by
Tanner Gates to
Noemi Neubauerova at center ice. Neubauerova and Kaltounkova went back and forth across a 2-on-1 before Neubauerova scored to make it 2-1.
• Period 3 | 19:22 – In a battle at the blue line for the puck,
Kalty Kaltounkova chipped it ahead to
Danielle Serdachny. The sophomore then fired a shot to the top shelf from within the faceoff circle to lift the Raiders to a 3-2 lead with just 38.2 remaining in regulation.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• With her first of the year, sophomore
Danielle Serdachny scored the game-winner. It stands as the third game-winner of her career.
• By opening the scoring, junior
Taylor Kirwan notched her first of the season and third of her career.
• With an assist on Kirwan's tally, junior
Rosy Demers extends to a five-game point streak in which she's earned six points by one goal and five assists.
• With her one goal and one assist, junior
Noemi Neubauerova recorded her second multi-point game of the season and sixth of her career.
• By earning a pair of apples, first-year
Kalty Kaltounkova posted her team-leading third multi-point game of the season.
• In another night of successfully killing the penalties, the Raiders went 2-for-2 on the kill. Colgate has only allowed one power play goal through the season's five games for a .923 penalty kill percentage on the year.
• The win marked number 150 for Head Coach
Greg Fargo with the Colgate women's hockey program in his career.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• No. 5 Colgate 3, No. 7 Clarkson 2
RECORD UPDATES
• No. 5 Colgate improves to a 4-1-0 record.
• No. 7 Clarkson begins the season 1-2-0.
HEAD COACH GREG FARGO'S TAKE
"Not every game is a work of art. I like how we fought our way back as a team. It's a good sign for us as we look ahead. These past five games have been a lot of fun and this team has been incredible on and off the ice since we arrived on campus. We're looking forward to finishing this segment of our season the right way."
UP NEXT
The No. 5 Colgate women's hockey program wraps up the four-game lineup with No. 7 Clarkson on Saturday, Dec. 5. The puck drops at 4 p.m. in Potsdam, N.Y.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate women's hockey program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateWIH and Instagram at colgatewih.
