Kennedy Wilson scored her first collegiate goal and Aly McLeod scored about a minute and a half later, but a strong first period lifted the third-ranked Yale Bulldogs to a 4-2 win in ECAC action on Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena.

The Bulldogs first strike came off the stick of Charlotte Welch. Welch skated in from the St. Lawrence blue line and sniped a shot over the shoulder of Saints' goaltender Lucy Morgan for the 1-0 lead.

A minute and 17 seconds later, Jordan Ray tipped a shot from the slot and put Yale up 2-0 at 7:04.

Shortly after, Claire Dalton broke up the play in the neutral zone and found Anna Bargman, who fed Elle Hartje for the Bulldogs third goal in three minutes and seven seconds.

Yale led 10-5 in shots after the first frame.

Emma Seitz tacked on one more for Yale to make it 4-0. 25 seconds into the third period.

The Saints fought back late in the third, as Wilson capitalized on an original shot from Rachel Teslak to score her first in Scarlet and Brown and bring the game to 4-1 at 14:36 of the third.

Just about a minute and a half later, Hillary Sterling found Chloé Puddifant, Puddifant then found McLeod just outside the Yale crease to bring the game back within two.

The Saints had another solid opportunity just moments later, but time would expire in favor of the Bulldogs.



"Yale is a very good team and we spotted them three quick goals to start and that certainly put us on our heels," said head coach Chris Wells. "We had two fabulous chances in our first two shifts that didn't go and that could have changed the game."
 
"We did a nice job settling in and trying to find a way. Our fight to the end was great to see and we almost had a third with a few minutes left still. This game gives us a very good idea of what we need to do to win late in the year. The ECAC hockey season end "sprint" has started and it's always fun to be right in the thick of it."
 
Emma-Sofie Nordström replaced Morgan after Yale's third goal and finished with 22 saves for the Saints. Pia Dukaric made 14 for the Bulldogs.

Yale finished with a 30-16 edge in shots and went 1-for-1 on the power play.

St. Lawrence fell to 10-12-0 overall and 4-5-0 in conference play, while Yale improved to 14-1-1 and 8-1-1, respectively.

The Saints face a quick turn around as they head to Cambridge, Massachusetts to face Harvard on Tuesday, January 10 at 10:30 a.m.