CORTLAND, N.Y.—SUNY Cortland (6-6-1, 2-5-1 ECAC West) built a 5-0 lead midway through the third period and held on for a 5-3 win over the SUNY Potsdam women's hockey team (5-10-2, 1-9-1) on Saturday afternoon. Juniors Kaylen Van Wagner (Red Hook, N.Y./Hotchkiss), Amanda Peterson and Jordan Ott (Hilton, N.Y./Rochester Edge) each scored for the Bears and senior captain Sally Mooney (Columbus, Ohio/Wyoming Seminary) chipped in two assists.

Potsdam went on the defensive early, killing off a power play just two minutes into the contest. Nearly three minutes later, the Red Dragons followed suit, blanking the Bears on their first man advantage. However, it was Cortland getting on the board first with a power-play goal from Niamh O'Connor at 9:36. With 53 seconds remaining in the opening 20 minutes, Laura Drew doubled the Red Dragons' advantage with an even-strength tally.

Cortland added another two goals in penalty-filled middle stanza. The teams combined for eight penalties in the second period. At the 9:02 mark, Maggie Corbett made it a 3-0 contest with the Red Dragons' second power-play goal. Five penalties were called in the next 3:23. After the penalty boxes emptied out, Sydney Carlucci lit the lamp for Cortland's fourth goal at 18:20. The Red Dragons outshot Potsdam 8-3 in the period and took the four-goal lead into the break.

Cortland killed off two more Bears' power plays in the first 4:21 of the third period. Carlucci then struck for her second and the Red Dragon's fifth goal of the game 17 seconds later. At 7:08, Van Wagner finally got the Bears on the scoreboard with an assist from Mooney. Nearly seven minutes later, Peterson got Potsdam within 5-2 with a feed from sophomore forward Anna-Rose Bertin (Marathon, Ontario/CIH Academy). With the Bears' momentum building, senior assistant captain Abby Tardelli (Potsdam, N.Y./North Country Ice Storm) was pulled for an extra attacker at 18:23. After just 31 seconds, Ott scored to close the gap to two goals. Senior forward Alison Greene (Massena, N.Y./Norwich University) and Mooney recorded the assists on the goal. Tardelli came out of the goal again for the ensuing faceoff, but Potsdam ran out of time.

Tardelli finished with 21 saves for the Bears, while Deanna Meunier turned aside 23 shots for the win. The shots were even at 26-26, but the Red Dragons were 2-for-5 on the power play and Potsdam was 0-for-5.

The Bears are back in action on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when they head south on Route 11 to take on SUNY Canton.