The No. 4-seed St. Lawrence Saints women's hockey team earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the visiting No. 5-seed Quinnipiac Bobcats at Appleton Arena on Saturday afternoon, sweeping their best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series to advance to the semifinal round next weekend at Cheel Arena in Potsdam vs. a to-be-determined opponent.

Captain Hannah Miller and Justine Reyes found the net for the Saints, who were backstopped to the win by a strong 17-save effort from goaltender Sonjia Shelly. 

"It was pretty gritty towards the end, (but) we knew it'd be that way — always is against Quinnipiac," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells '92. "Very clean, hard-fought games, (with) a lot of respect for the way they play, and we're happy to be moving on."

After a tense, scoreless first period, Quinnipiac opened the scoring four minutes into the middle frame via a Shannon Cherpak point shot that wove through traffic and past Shelly. 

The Saints responded at the 9:58 mark when Miller sent Quinnipiac goaltender Abbie Ives' water bottle flying with a picture-perfect power play snipe off a stellar pass from Reyes below the goal line.

Reyes then gave St. Lawrence the lead at 12:47, one-timing a centering pass from Rachael Smith past a sliding Ives.



Shelly was called into action late in the third period as the Bobcats pressed with their season on the line, but the junior out of Braceville, Illinois, stood tall under pressure and helped the Saints to a series sweep.

"Practice on Monday, (those are) the three best words this time of year," beamed Wells following the win. "It was back and forth, both goalies made some fantastic saves."



St. Lawrence will now travel down Route 11 to face the Clarkson Golden Knights in the ECAC Hockey semifinals, which will be hosted at Cheel Arena next weekend.

Carlos Verde is pursuing his B.A. in journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa and is serving as a volunteer intern for the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team.