ITHACA, N.Y. – Pippy Gerace scored late in overtime to send the fourth-ranked Cornell University women's hockey team past Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 2-1, in Game 1 of a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink. With the win, the Big Red improve to 21-3-6 overall, while the Engineers drop to 13-17-5.

Inside the final five minutes of overtime, Gerace was able to latch onto a rebound at the right side of the RPI net and flip a shot past Engineers senior netminder Lovisa Selander for her ninth goal of the year and the game-winning tally. Paige Lewis, who took the initial shot from the bottom of the right circle, picked up the lone assist on the deciding play, which came at 15:51.

After a scoreless opening period, junior Blake Orosz gave the Engineers a 1-0 lead at 5:14 of the second. She got her stick to a shot from the blue line by senior Josefine Hansen and redirected it past Cornell goaltender Marlene Boissonnault for her team-leading 15th goal of the season. Senior Jaimie Grigsby also earned a helper on the game's first goal.

The Big Red finally drew even (1-1) at 7:48 of the third period, when Gillis Frechette deked her way into the offensive zone and slipped a shot between the legs of Selander for third goal of the year. Kristin O'Neill and Kendra Nealey had the assists on the leveling goal.

Cornell outshot the Engineers 17-2 in overtime before Gerace was able to sneak the winner past Selander (11-16-5), who made 63 saves on the night – three shy of her career high. Boissonnault (18-3-4) had six stops at the other end of the ice.

The Engineers finished 1 for 2 on the power play, while the Big Red went 0 for 5.

Both teams are back on the tomorrow afternoon for Game 2 of the series. Puck drop is set for 3pm.