Canton, NY - Three winning campaigns in four seasons and 69 total victories are an impressive consolation for a neophyte program just getting off the ground, but the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team would have liked to come away with more this weekend as the Golden Knights saw their season end in a 3-1 loss to St. Lawrence in the ECACHL Quarterfinals on Saturday night at Appleton Arena.

The Green and Gold, seeded seventh in the ECACHL standings concluded their season  at 18-15-3 overall with a 2-0 best-of-three sweep at the hands of the Saints, who improved to 27-6-3 as the fifth-ranked team in the nation and second seed in the ECACHL.

After a gut-wrenching 3-2 loss on Friday, the Knights showed they were not a one-night wonder against their closest rivals, holding St. Lawrence scoreless in the opening frame. The Saints held an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal over the first 20 minutes.

The second period appeared likely to end in the same fashion as the first, but St. Lawrence took momentum going into the third period on a deflection with less than a minute to go in the stanza. A blast from top of the circle careened off a stick and then another player to find its way safely into the back of the net with just 50 seconds remaining. The goal was credited to Chelsea Grills, her 14th of the season, with assists going to Annie Guay and Sabrina Harbec.

Just 1:01 into the third period, Grills tallied the game-winner when she whipped in a shot in front over the shoulder of Clarkson goalkeeper Kira Hurley (Pickering, ONT). St. Lawrence continued its pressure with another goal eight minutes later as Sabrina Harbec centered the puck into the slot for Carson Duggan who replayed Grills shot from earlier for a 3-0 Saints advantage.

Clarkson would not take defeat easily, however, as Brooke Beazer (Kingston, ONT) scored her third goal of the season at 13:11 of the frame with freshman Carlee Eusepi (Oakville, ONT) earning her 17th assist of the season. Clarkson applied pressure, but couldn’t break through thanks to a pair of late penalties which kept the team on the defensive for four of the final six minutes.

Hurley finished with 28 saves for the Knights and Meghan Guckian stopped 15 shots in 60 minutes for St. Lawrence. The Saints held a 31-16 edge in shots for the game, but committed seven penalties for 14 minutes, allowing for Clarkson’s lone goal (1-for-7 on power-play).