In a game in which it led for a total of just 25 seconds, Cornell women’s hockey suffered a crushing loss Saturday afternoon to Colgate thanks to a last-second goal by Raider forward Jessie Eldridge.
After the team seemed to be down and out more than halfway through the third period at Clarkson’s Cheel Arena in Potsdam, the Red came back, scoring three goals in a span of less than four minutes to tie the game at four.
Earlier, Colgate had taken command of the game in the first and second periods, scoring four consecutive tallies of its own to dwarf the Red’s game-opening goal. Entering the second intermission, the scoreboard reflected a commanding 4-1 Raider lead.
As the game’s final seconds waned, it had appeared that Cornell had mustered enough to send the game to overtime, but Eldridge had other ideas. With just one second on the clock, the forward snuck one past Junior goaltender Marlene Boissonnault on a power play to ice the game for Colgate.
With the victory over Cornell, the second-seeded Raiders advance to the conference semifinal against national No. 2 Clarkson tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Cheel Arena.
The Red, on the other hand, is eliminated from the conference playoffs and will await the fate of its season Sunday evening, when the NCAA announces the teams selected to play in the NCAA tournament. Without a conference title, the Red needs an at-large bid to be admitted into the national playoffs — otherwise its season is over.
The eight-team field is expected to be announced at 9 p.m. Sunday on NCAA.com.