Click for box score

HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Colgate women's hockey team scored twice in the waning minutes of the third period to erase a 3-1 deficit and force overtime, but Yale freshman Nicole Symington (Burlington, Ont.) gave the Bulldogs the 4-3 victory with 45 seconds left in the overtime period on Saturday at Starr Rink.

Yale took an early lead when sophomore Erika Hockinson (Inver Heights, Minn.) grabbed a Colgate turnover, and fed junior Deanna McDevitt (So. Boston, Mass.) for a goal at 1:55.

Colgate freshman Cheryl Setchell (Sydney, N.S.) tied the game at one exactly six minutes later when she buried a pass by Kristin Cirbus (Jamestown, N.Y.).

The Bulldogs regained the lead partway through the second period when sophomore Gabrielle Goodfellow (Dorval, Que.) took advantage of another Raider turnover and set up McDevitt for her second tally of the game.

At 3:42 of the third frame, sophomore Tara O'Donnell (Carlisle, Mass.) gave Yale an additional cushion when she scored an unassisted goal.

The Raiders could not get anything going in the way of scoring chances, and the game looked lost, until freshman Amanda Barre (Grafton, Ont.), in her first game back from injury, converted a Yale turnover in front of the net into an unassisted goal at 15:31.

With momentum on their side, the Raiders pulled freshman goalie Lindsay Bourne (Redlands, Calif.) in favor of the extra attacker.  The teams were skating four-on-four due to consecutive penalties, so Colgate put five snipers into the game with less than two minutes remaining.  Setchell won the face-off to the right of Yale netminder Katie Hirte (Cottage Grove, Minn.), and she immediately passed it to senior Heather Murphy (St. Paul, Minn.) who was waiting at the right point.  After a brief hesitation, the three-time All-American fired a rocket through traffic to beat Hirte at 18:32 to force overtime.  It was her first goal of the season, as she was playing in just her second game of the year after returning from a semester abroad.

Riding the wave of adrenaline, the Raiders opened the extra period with six quality shots on goal, but Yale's veteran goalie denied them all.  With less than a minute left in the game, the Bulldogs got a break and put together an odd-man rush into the Colgate zone, where Symington ended the game with an unassisted goal.

Hirte finished the game with 30 saves while earning her second win of the season, while Bourne made 24 stops in the loss.  This was the first overtime loss in Colgate women's hockey history.  It was also the first time that the Raiders have scored with the extra attacker since Avery McGlenn (Coaldale, Alb.) did it against Middlebury on Dec. 2, 2000.

The Raiders host Cobourg for an exhibition game on Saturday, December 8 at 4 p.m., while Yale hosts Quinnipiac on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Ingalls Rink.

Colgate (4-7-1, 0-3-1 ECAC-North)    1  0  2  0 - 3
Yale (4-4-1, 1-2-0 ECAC-North)     1  1  1  1 - 4 

Scoring:
Yale 1:55 (1) - McDevitt (Hockinson)
Colgate 7:55 (1) - Setchell (Cirbus)
Yale 7:39 (2) - McDevitt (Goodfellow)
Yale 3:42 (3) - O'Donnell (unassisted)
Colgate 15:31 (3) - Barre (unassisted)
Colgate 18:32 (3) - Murphy (Setchell) (EA)
Yale 4:15 (OT) - Symington (unassisted)

Goaltending: Colgate - Lindsay Bourne (63:57, 4 GA, 24 svs); Yale - Katie Hirte (64:15, 3 GA, 30 svs).

Shots: Colgate - 33; Yale - 28

Penalties: Colgate - 5/10; Yale - 1/2

Power plays: Colgate - 0/1; Yale 0/5