CORTLAND, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam women's hockey team (3-2, 2-1 NEWHL) fought off SUNY Cortland (2-3, 0-3) for a 2-1 road conference victory on Friday night. Sophomore forward Alexis Clark (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Buffalo Bison) scored the first goal for the Bears and freshman forward Ellie Cleary (Buffalo, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons) netted her first collegiate goal for the game-winner. Junior goalie Alexa Pfeiffer (Sylvania, Ohio/Little Caesar's) made 20 saves for her 16th career win, moving her into sole possession of second place on the program's wins list.
 
After Potsdam killed off an early penalty, Clark netted her fourth goal at 9:06 to open the scoring. Junior captain Shelbi Thacker (Chesterfield, Mich./Honeybaked) assisted on the goal. Defense controlled much of the rest of the period before the Red Dragons tied the score late. At 18:36, Katie DeVoe buried the equalizer and the teams entered the first intermission tied.
 
Potsdam outshot Cortland 9-6 in the middle stanza. Each team was unsuccessful on a single power play and the score remained unchanged after 40 minutes.
 
At 6:13 of the third period, Cleary put Potsdam out in front for good with a helper from senior captain Rylie Murray (Berkley, Mich./Honeybaked). Potsdam killed off two final Cortland man advantages after the goal. The Red Dragons pulled goalie Victoria Gibson with 1:31 left, but couldn't crack the Bears' defense again.
 
Gibson finished with 18 saves on the night. The Red Dragons outshot Potsdam 21-20 and both teams were 0-for-4 on the power play.
 
The teams go at it again at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in Maxcy Ice Arena.