Senior goalie Lucy Morgan's thirty-seven saves led the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team to a 2-2 tie with the No. 9/10 Clarkson Golden Knights in the first matchup of this weekend's Route 11 rivalry series on Friday night at Appleton Arena.
 
The Golden Knights came out strong with a relentless forecheck. The Saints gained their footing as the period progressed, leading to a fast-paced and intense first frame.
 
Both goalies were sharp in the first period.
 
Clarkson's Michelle Pasiechnyk stopped Saints' forward Abby Hustler in the low slot early in the period.
 
Morgan had multiple big saves to keep the game scoreless. Clarkson defenseman Stephanie Markowski flicked a pass in the air through the neutral zone to Jaden Bodgen. Morgan held the top of her crease and stopped Bodgen on the semi-breakaway.
 
Clarkson outshot the Saints 10-5 in the first frame.
 
Morgan had another breakaway save just thrity-seven seconds into the second period, matching Clarkson's Anne Cherkowski's dekes with a left-pad save.
 
St. Lawrence struck first, just over six minutes into the middle frame. Kennedy Wilson corralled a loose puck in the corner and backhanded a pass to Julia Gosling. She then quickly re-directed the pass to Hustler. The sophomore forward gathered the pass on her backhand and beat Pasiechnyk over her glove-side pad.
 
Bodgen was tagged for a hook only nineteen seconds after the Hustler goal. The Saints capitalized on what would be their only power-play of the game.
 
St. Lawrence's second power-play unit executed a passing clinic. Aly McLeod skated off the half-boards to the top of the circle and fed Shailynn Snow, who was on the goal line. Snow drew the Golden Knight defender, which left Kiley Mastel wide-open in the low slot. Mastel received Snow's pass and beat Pasiechnyk to her blocker post.
 
The two-goal lead turned the momentum all in St. Lawrence's favor, but a Clarkson power-play gave them the opportunity to grab momentum back.
 
On Clarkson's second power-play of the game, Anne Cherkowski's give-and-go with Gabrielle David cut the Saints lead to one. Cherkowski passed to David, whose shot hit off Morgan's skate and into the slot. The rebound was then put home by Cherkowski.
 
Morgan and the Saints penalty kill responded late in the second to keep the lead. Wilson and Gabi Jones each had big blocks during Clarkson's third power-play of the game.
 
Clarkson led the shots-on-goal count 23-12 after two periods.
 
St. Lawrence did not sit back with the lead in the third period.
 
The Hustler-Gosling-Anna Segedi line combination had multiple strong shifts, pinning the Golden Knights in their defensive zone. SLU was unable to capitalize on their chances to extend their lead to two.
 
Still trailing by one, Clarkson pulled Pasiechnyk for the extra-attacker with just over a minute remaining in the game.
 
The Golden Knights were able to gain possession inside the Saints' defensive zone. Clarkson's Olivia Hanson fed fellow defenseman Haley Winn. Her shot from the point evaded traffic in front of Morgan and beat her over her blocker-side shoulder. The goal was challenged by St. Lawrence but was upheld.
 
The Route 11 rivalry went to overtime for the second time in the last three matchups.
 
Both teams had glorious chances to open overtime.
 
Segedi won the opening faceoff into the Golden Knights' zone. She passed the puck cross-ice to Gosling, who was wide-open on the backdoor. Pasiechnyk robbed Gosling with a beautiful glove-side.
 
Morgan responded thirty seconds with a two-on-one save of her own; however, the pace of overtime slowed after these opportunities. 
 
Clarkson had one final opportunity to grab the win with a late power-play, their fifth of the game. The Golden Knights were never able to sustain pressure during their twenty-two second power-play and the game ended in a tie.


 
"It was a physical game and Clarkson was really hard on pucks and in battles," said head coach Chris Wells. "They had some great puck movement at times and Lucy was up to the task."
 
Morgan finished with 37 saves, while Pasiechnyk had 15. The Golden Knights outshot the Saints 63-43 in attempts and 39-17 in shots-on-goal.
 
"I think it was a hard-fought game on both sides," noted Saints' defenseman Taylor Lum. "We want to get the three [ECAC] points, but I think it was a good response from our game on Tuesday, in front of a great crowd at Appleton, and I think tomorrow will be a good game."
 
SLU finished 1-for-1 on the power-play, while Clarkson was 1-for-5 on its opportunities.
 
The Saints' record now sits at 11-14-2 and 5-6-2 in conference play, and Clarkson's at 19-6-2 and 8-4-1.
 
"We are heading toward a huge portion of our schedule the next three weeks," added Wells. Tonight, was a good taste of what we will see!"
 
The Route 11 Rivalry continues tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at Cheel Arena in Potsdam.