Clarkson Wins Women's D-I National Title

For the second straight season, and the third time in five years, Clarkson University is the NCAA Division I women's ice hockey champion.

The Golden Knights got an unassisted goal 7:55 into overtime from freshman forward Elizabeth Giguère to edge ECAC rival Colgate, 2-1, before nearly 3,000 fans at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis on Sunday. Clarkson had earlier defeated Colgate, 3-0, for the ECAC Championship on March 4.

Cassidy Vinkle opened the scoring for Clarkson late in the first period, before Malia Schneider tied it early in the second stanza for the Raiders. The game remained deadlocked until Giguère's sudden-death heroics, when she shook off a Colgate defender, fell to one knee, and then regained her skates before tucking a backhander past Raiders goaltender Julia Vandyk (35 saves). Shea Tiley made 27 stops for Clarkson, which remains the only eastern-based team to win a Division I women's ice hockey national title since the NCAA championship was inaugurated in 2001.

The Golden Knights advanced to this year's national title contest with a 1-0 overtime victory over Ohio State in a semifinal on Friday. First-time NCAA Tournament participant Colgate qualified for its first-ever national title game with a 4-3 double overtime win over Wisconsin.

2018 NCAA Women's Frozen Four Filled

The field for the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Hockey Frozen Four is set, following Saturday's quarterfinal results:

CLARKSON 2, Mercyhurst 1 (OT)

WISCONSIN 4, Minnesota 0

COLGATE 3, Northeastern 1

Ohio State 2, BOSTON COLLEGE 0

(Home Team in CAPS)

Minnesota had qualified for the past six Frozen Fours, while Boston College had appeared in the last three.

In this year's semifinals, to be held on March 16 at Minnesota's Ridder Arena, defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Clarkson will face sixth-seeded Ohio State, while No. 2 Wisconsin will take on No. 3 Colgate. 

Clarkson won its first national title in 2013-14 before defeating Wisconsin last year, while Wisconsin has claimed four NCAA crowns in all, the last one in 2010-11. Colgate and Ohio State, which both made their NCAA tournament debuts on Saturday, will each be skating in the Frozen Four for the first time ever.

The 2018 NCAA championship game will be held on March 18 at Ridder Arena.

2015 NCAA Women's Tournament Starts Saturday

The eight-school 2015 NCAA Women's Division I Tournament gets underway on Saturday with four quarter final match-ups:

Quinnipiac @ (3) Harvard
Clarkson @ (2) Boston College
Boston University @ (4) Wisconsin
RIT @ (1) Minnesota

(Top seeds in parentheses)

The winners advance to the Frozen Four on March 20-22 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. Clarkson is the defending national champion.