CANTON -- A comeback bid for No. 19 St. Lawrence University fell short Sunday night, as the fourth-seeded Saints fell to fifth-seeded Quinnipiac 3-2 giving the visiting Bobcats a 2-1 series win at Appleton Arena, ending the Saints season.

Quinnipiac opened up a 3-0 lead through the first two periods before senior Eric Sweetman lit the lamp for St. Lawrence with 10 seconds left in the middle frame to put the Saints on the board and give the home team momentum heading into the final 20 minutes.

Thomas Aldworth, Connor Clifton and Alex Whelan scored for the Bobcats. Aldworth scored on the power play midway through the first and Clifton and Whelan scored in the latter part of the second, with Whelan’s goal serving as the game winner.

Clifton was assessed a holding penalty at 18:44 of the second period setting up a power play chance for the Saints. After rookie Ben Finkelstein pushed the puck to the end boards, classmate Carson Gicewicz flipped it out to the slot for Sweetman who ripped a hard slapshot over Andrew Shortridge’s left shoulder to cut the deficit to 3-1.

In the third period, junior Mike Marnell pulled the Saints within one with the team’s second power play goal of the night. Joe Sullivan won a battle behind the net and played the puck out in front where Finkelstein passed it to Marnell on the doorstep to make it 3-2.

Just minutes after setting up Marnell’s goal, Finkelstein rang the inside of the post with a hard slapshot from the left point. That was the best offensive bid for the Saints down the stretch, as Shortridge made six of his nine saves in the third period after Marnell’s goal to help seal the win for Quinnipiac. He finished with 20 saves, while Kyle Hayton made 24 stops for St. Lawrence.

Sunday’s game was the final in Appleton Arena for seniors Alexander Dahl, Ben Masella, Mike Graham, Woody Hudson, Gavin Bayreuther, Drew Smolcynski and Eric Sweetman, as well as the team’s equipment manager, Nick Bayruns, who has worked with the Saints for the last four years.

St. Lawrence finishes its first season under Coach Mark Morris with a 17-13-7 record, while Quinnipiac improves to 23-14-2 and will advance to play Harvard in the ECAC Hockey semifinals in Lake Placid next weekend.