NEW HAVEN, CT - A valiant 60-plus minute effort that saw the Union College women's hockey team closely contest the 11th ranked Yale Bulldogs would come up just short Friday night, as Elle Hartje's second goal of the evening would match the two goals from Union first-year Maddie Leaney and give Yale the winner in overtime, 3-2.
 
Leaney would score a goal apiece in the first and third periods, her sixth and seventh goals of the year, that see her tie sophomore Riley Walsh for the team-lead in goals. Leaney also joins Walsh and senior Emily King in double digits in points with 10 on her rookie season.
 
After a fairly quiet first 17 minutes and change that served as a feeling out period for the two teams, Yale broke the scoreless tie with 2:27 left in the opening frame. After Hartje prevented a Union clear on the right side boards, the senior turned to the middle of the ice and sent a short pass towards Anna Bargman. The pass was behind Bargman however and went off her skate, and Hartje pushed the puck through junior Emma Hebert, faked to her backhand, and potted the forehand to give Yale a 1-0 lead.
 
But Union wasted no time- almost literally- in responding.
 
After Yale won the ensuing faceoff and dumped the puck into the Union end, Hebert retrieved the puck in the corner and started the Union breakout. Hebert carried towards the Union blueline and passed the puck to King, who sent a self-pass off the wall in front of the Yale bench to get by her forechecker. A Yale defender got her stick to the puck just before King received her own pass, but King blocked the clear, picked up the loose puck after a wayward Bulldogs pass and fired a shot below the left dot. Yale goalie Pia Dukaric made the initial stop, but first-year Maddie Leaney crashed the net and finished home the rebound for her  sixth goal of the season, tying the game right back up 11 seconds after Yale took the first lead.
 
Yale outshot Union 9-4 in the opening period. The Garnet Chargers came back strong in the middle frame however, outshooting the Bulldogs 6-5 while controlling much of the play in the period. Junior Sophie Matsoukas was mainly responsible for keeping the second period scoreless, making a pair of ten bell saves to keep the game the same place it was after the first.
 
In the third, it would be Union who scored first, and they did so in similar fashion.
 
Just over a minute into the frame, Walsh would control a puck in her own defensive zone and turn up ice for the clear. Walsh sent a cross ice path to Leaney, who sent a quick touch to King at the center dot, sending her linemate in on a Union rush. King drove down the right side before pushing into high gear to get past her defender, coming across the face of the net to try and get a shot past Dukaric. Dukaric rejected King's attempt, but didn't get enough to keep the puck from sneaking through her, and Leaney pushed the leaky puck across the goalline to give the Garnet Chargers a 2-1 lead.
 
Yale would take a little longer than the 22 seconds Union needed in the first for their response, taking advantage of a lucky break to bring the game back even eight minutes after Leaney's second of the night.
 
Jordan Ray ladled the puck from the Yale blueline towards the Union zone with 10:33 left, and used her quickness to get past a turning Maren Friday to regain possession in the Garnet Chargers end. Ray carried the puck below the dot, turning the play into a two-on-one advantage with Meredith Killian defending and Friday striding to get back in the play. Ray sent a pass cross ice looking for her teammate far post, but the puck deflected off the crouching Killian's stick and past Matsoukas going post-to-post to tie the game.
 
Yale took control from that point on, outshooting Union 7-2 the remainder of regulation.
 
In the extra frame, Friday had an opportunity to avenge the third period goal, getting an opportunity from close range right off the opening draw that Dukaric just got enough of to keep the game on. Matsoukas had an impressive save of her own with a little over two minutes left, as Gracie Gilkyson walked down the left side, getting all the way below the hashmarks on a two-on-one, but Matsoukas stood tall and flashed the glove to keep the game tied.
 
The winner would come less than 30 seconds later. With Yale maintaining possession after an offensive zone draw, Hartje picked up a puck battled for by a pair of players in the slot, made a couple of moves in front of Matsoukas, and stuffed the winner forehand to give the Bulldogs the victory.
 
Overall, Yale outshot Union 29-17, a number obsolete for how close of a game it was. Union stymied Yale's nationally-ranked 14th power play in their two chances, while the Garnet Chargers were unable to cash in on their lone advantage on the night. Yale won the battle of the faceoff dot, 30-22.
 
Matsoukas would make 26 saves, the second-best mark of her career against Yale. King picked up a pair of assists, making it six points in her career against the Bulldogs, and now sits second on the team in points, with 11.
 
Union will take the point from the contest- their first point from a meeting with the Bulldogs in almost six years- and head to Rhode Island to take on Brown on Saturday at 3:00 PM, the Garnet Chargers final game in nearly a three-week Thanksgiving break.