ITHACA, N.Y. — Sophomore forward Lily Delianedis notched a goal and an assist, and the Cornell women's hockey team clinched a berth in the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs with a 4-2 victory over Rensselaer on Friday night at Lynah Rink.

After Cornell (11-11-2, 9-7-2) opened a three-goal lead through 40 minutes, Rensselaer (9-19, 5-13) clawed back into the game with a couple of goals in the third period. Sophomore blueliner Ashley Messier then iced the game with a shot that rang into the net off the crossbar with 5:24 left. Lindsay Browning made 22 saves to earn the victory.

Amanda Rampado got off to a strong start in goal for RPI, making a save with the inside of the paddle on her goal stick with Delianedis' rebound attempt 6:23 in. About eight minutes later, Izzy Daniel set up Gillis Frechette for a point-blank shot on a two-on-one that Rampado was able to push away with her blocker.

Cornell finally broke through with 2:38 left in the frame on the game's first power play. The Big Red worked the puck up and down the left half wall before setting up Guilday for a blast from near the top of the circles in the middle of the ice that slid underneath Rampado. It was Guilday's seventh goal of the season and fourth in just the last eight games.

The teams found more ice with which to work in the second, with a little more participation necessary from Lindsay Browning. She stopped Maddy Peterson's shot from the left circle at the 8:12 mark, then stayed with Marah Wagner's move on a two-on-one to stop a backhanded shot from in tight at 14:33.

Just 43 seconds later, the Big Red doubled the lead. After being denied by a shot off the iron earlier in the frame, Delianedis tapped in a rebound of Frechette's shot that squarely hit the post with 4:44 left in the period. Kaitlin Jockims tacked on a third 37.5 seconds before the intermission after forechecking from Gabbie Rud and Leah MacSween.

Cornell returns to Lynah tomorrow (3pm), when it hosts Union, while the Engineers visit No. 8 Colgate (3pm).