Claire Tyo played the hero in game one of the ECAC Quarterfinals, as she scored with 5:34 to play in overtime, to lift the seventh-ranked St. Lawrence University women's hockey team to a 3-2 win over Yale in the best-of-three series on Friday afternoon at Appleton Arena.

The win improved the Saints to 20-10-5 on the season, securing 20 wins for the second consecutive season. Yale fell to 16-12-3 with the loss.

Sarah Marchand put the Saints on the board early, giving the Scarlet and Brown a 1-0 lead at 5:54 of the first. Bella Parento flipped the puck to Marchand at the Saints blue line and Marchand carried through the neutral zone and snuck a shot past Pia Dukaric for the first goal.

Yale responded less than two minutes later, as Naomi Boucher picked off the puck, skated into the slot and went over the shoulder of Saints' goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordström to tie things up 1-1.

St. Lawrence gained the advantage with the lone goal in the second, as Abby Hustler scored her 15th of the season. Hustler took an initial shot from the right circle, and after the rebound was bobbled in the front, she circled around and put the loose puck past Dukaric for the 2-1 lead. Marchand and Katina Duscio added helpers on the play.

Stephanie Stainton knotted things up once more, this time on the power play, as she picked up the puck in the Yale zone, went coast-to-coast, beating the glove of Nordström for the 2-2 game with 4:45 to play in the third, sending the game to the eventual overtime.

After regulation, SLU led 30-23 in shots on goal.

Nearing the midway point in overtime, Nordström came up big for the Saints stopping a point blank shot, keeping the Bulldogs at bay.

After a slew of Yale penalties, including a game misconduct, which gave the Saints a 5-on-3 advantage in the extra frame. Kristina Bahl passed off to Anna Segedi, and Segedi went cross ice to Tyo, who sent a rocket one timer to the top right corner for the power play overtime game winner.



"Another very close game vs. Yale this afternoon," said head coach Chris Wells. "I thought both teams came out and played a great first period with speed and chances. We settled in during the second and were able to control the play and get our second on the board. The third was back to end-to-end action with both goalies making saves. Yale was able to capitalize on a nice line rush on their power play to send it into overtime. Both teams had glorious chances before the game was decided. Posts and saves kept the crowd entertained until we got a good bounce to win it on the power play."

Nordström recorded 26 saves for the Saints, while Pia Dukaric finished with 40 for the Bulldogs.

St. Lawrence finished 1-for-4 on the power play and outshot Yale 43-28, while Yale went 1-for-3.

The two teams will meet for game two of the ECAC Quarterfinals series at Appleton Arena tomorrow, March 1. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m.