NEW HAVEN, Conn. – "In overtime, anything can happen," said Mark Bolding, Yale's Susan Cavanagh Head Coach, whose record-setting women's ice hockey team fell 2-1 early in the extra session to Colgate in the ECAC Hockey Championship Game before a big crowd at Ingalls Rink.
 
"They got a little space on us and took advantage of it," said Bolding describing what happened on Kaity Kaltounkova's breakaway goal 4:45 into the OT that gave the Raiders the automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
 
The Bulldogs, who should get one of the seven remaining invites to the 11-team national tournament tomorrow night at 9 when it's announced on ESPN News, held a 1-0 lead from 9:45 of the first period, when junior forward Claire Dalton flicked a backhander stick side and high on Hannah Murphy, until early in the third period when the visitors evened the score and made the wild atmosphere at the Whale even crazier.
 
Gianna Meloni, the Bulldog senior who broke the school record for goalie wins in a season when the Elis beat Princeton yesterday, was spectacular in goal today again. She stopped all 11 shots in the second, 13 in the third and six in OT to finish with 34.
 
Meloni and Murphy both made breakaway saves in the regulation time of a contest that Colgate led in shots on target, 36-30. A dozen of those Yale shots came from Dalton and junior Emma Seitz, who were both all-tournament selections.
 
Charlotte Welch, Yale's junior forward who had three assists on the weekend including one today, summed it up best when she said, "our main takeaway from this weekend is that you have to bury your chances when you have them."
 
Yale, which hosted its first ECAC Championship Weekend ever and made its first title game, seeks its first NCAA appearance and a chance to start new momentum.
 
"It was a great run," said Welch. "This was good playoff experience for us. We've all been in big games, and one bounce can make the difference."
 
Her head coach is hoping to get some good bounces next week.
 
"I'm excited about the next step," said Bolding.