NEW HAVEN, Conn. — For the third consecutive season, the Colgate Raiders have claimed the ECAC Hockey Women's Championship title, defeating Clarkson by a final score of 8-2 this afternoon in New Haven and punching their ticket to the national tournament.
The No. 2 seed Raiders advanced to today's championship game after a dominant semifinal win over Quinnipiac yesterday that saw five different goal scorers and ten different skaters notch points in a 5-1 win. The win punched their ticket to today's ECAC Hockey Women's Championship, their third such appearance in as many years. Earlier that day, Clarkson had secured their shot at a tournament title with a 4-3 win over the No. 1 seeded Bulldogs in double overtime.
Today's championship match-up between Colgate and Clarkson was the teams' third meeting of the season, with Colgate taking both games during league play (2-1 on Nov. 4, 2-0 on Feb. 4).
The title match got off to a quick start, with Colgate captain Danielle Serdachny
getting the Raiders on the board just 1:27 into the first period with a rebound tapped in over the shoulder of Clarkson netminder Michelle Pasiechnyk. Less than four minutes later, Serdachny was on the board again with her second goal of the contest, which she snuck in back-door to give the Raiders an early 2-0 lead.
With ten minutes still to play in the first period, ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team selection Elyssa Biederman
beat the Golden Knights back-checkers to the puck, deked around a defender, and scored to extend the lead to three. The Raiders took a comfortable 3-0 lead into the first intermission.
The middle frame started slow, with a penalty against Clarkson on which the Raiders could not convert. 12:51 in, Biederman scored through traffic for her second of the day. With 11 seconds left on the clock, Sara Stewart struck to extend the Raiders' lead to five.
It wasn't until the third period that the flood gates really opened, with the two teams combining for five goals through the final 20 minutes of regulation. Under five minutes into the final frame, Anne Cherkowski opened the scoring for the Golden Knights with a snipe from the top of the circle that beat Colgate net-minder Kayle Osborne cleanly and got Clarkson within four. With under ten to go in regulation, the Raiders were determined to stifle any comeback attempts, and scored three straight off the sticks of Dara Greig, Neena Brick, and Maggie MacEachern. Clarkson captain Brooke McQuigge would get the game's final goal, but it was too little too late for the Golden Knights to get back in it.
At the conclusion of the game, the ECAC Hockey Women's All-Tournament Team was announced as follows:
Forward: Danielle Serdachny (Colgate)
Forward: Sara Stewart (Colgate)
Forward: Elyssa Biederman (Colgate)
Forward: Anne Cherkowski (Clarkson)
Defense: Stephanie Markowski (Clarkson)
Goaltender: Hannah Murphy (Colgate)
2022-23 ECAC Hockey Forward and Player of the Year Danielle Serdachny was honored as the
ECAC Hockey Women's Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
With their win today, Colgate secures the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Tomorrow, Clarkson, Quinnipiac, and Yale await their fate with the 2023 NCAA selection show tomorrow at 12 p.m. EST, airing live on ESPN+ and ESPNews.
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