It's amazing what a difference 44 days can make.

On January 20th, just over six weeks ago, the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team opened the 2020-21 season with an 8-1 loss to Clarkson.

Tonight, the Saints defeated the Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime, the team's fourth win over Clarkson in eight days, to advance to the ECAC Hockey championship game. St. Lawrence, the tournament's No. 2 seed, will face top-seeded Colgate at Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Aly McLeod scored her first career goal in the overtime period for the Saints.

"Resilience is, in my mind, the perfect word in COVID times," said Saints' assistant coach Mare MacDougall Bari following the game. "We were able to find a way to be resilient in the way we were playing and refocus. Resilient is the nicest thing someone could say to describe our team.

"There are a bunch of kids in that locker room that are having a ton of fun playing a game with their friends," MacDougall Bari continued. "Coming to Appleton has been a lot of fun this year. I feel like all hands are on deck here at St. Lawrence to give the players the best experience they can have."

And the players are certainly making the most of it. After starting the season 1-5-0, the Saints have won five of their last six games, all against ranked teams, and head to Colgate with an even 6-6-0 record.

McLeod's game-winner set up by a hard shot off the boards by Chloé Puddifant. When the puck bounced back in front of the net, McLeod slid her stick under Clarkson goaltender Michelle Pasiechnyk's leg pad and pushed the puck across the goal line, sending the entire Saints' bench onto the ice to celebrate.

After a long review, the officials announced that the goal would stand.



While the overtime finish was wild, so was the journey to get there. St. Lawrence held a 3-0 lead in the second period thanks to a pair of goals by Jessica Poirier and another by Julia Gosling. But the Golden Knights came back to force overtime, with Stephanie Markowski tying the game with a 6-on-4 power play goal with just 27.2 seconds remaining in regulation.

Poirier gave the Saints a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the first period, scoring on a wide open net on a crossing pass by Taylor Lum. Shailynn Snow started the play, stopping a Clarkson clearing attempt at the Golden Knights' blue line, and Lum picked up the puck and skated in on the right side on a 2-on-1 with Poirier.

Julia Gosling increased the lead to 2-0 three minutes into the second period, firing a laser from just inside the blue line into the top left corner for her seventh goal of the year. Anna Segedi and Brittney Gout picked up assists on the play.

Poirier's second goal, this time on the power play, made it 3-0 in favor of St. Lawrence. Once again, the senior forward had a wide open net after a beautiful 1-2-3 setup on passes from Lum and Snow.

But the Golden Knights were able to cut the lead to two goals with just over four minutes to play in the second period. Lauren Bernard took a shot from the point that deflected off a St. Lawrence player's stick high into the air, arcing out of St. Lawrence goaltender Lucy Morgan's reach and dipping below the crossbar.

Nicole Gosling scored less than five minutes into the third period to cut the lead to one, putting away the third rebound in a scrum in front of the Saints' net after Morgan had stopped three shots.

Markowski tied the score in the final minute of the third period, once again on a scramble in front of the Saints' net.

Clarkson outshot the Saints 39-23. Morgan, who was named the ECAC Hockey MAC Goaltending Goalie of the Year earlier in the day, finished the game with 36 saves. Marie-Pier Coulombe stopped seven shots and allowed three goals. Pasiechnyk, who came in after the third St. Lawrence goal, made 12 saves.

Now, the Saints' focus turns to Colgate, a 2-1 winner over Quinnipiac in the other ECAC Hockey semifinal, and who won three of four meetings with the Saints during the regular season.

"That's a really good hockey team down in Hamilton," said MacDougall Bari. "They're the kind of team that you love to watch your team play against. I think it's a good matchup for us."