GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - It was a difficult way to lose.
Playing in its first NCAA hockey tournament since 1994, Northeastern built a 2-0 lead against Cornell yesterday but surrendered three unanswered goals to sustain a 3-2 loss in the Midwest Regional semifinals at Van Andel Arena.
Evan Barlow scored the winner with 17.2 seconds left in the third period.
Cornell (22-9-4) advances to today's regional championship game against Bemidji State (19-15-1), a 5-1 winner over Notre Dame in the nightcap.
Northeastern wraps up its season at 25-12-4.
"That's a tough loss," said Northeastern coach Greg Cronin. "It's two back-to-back games. We had the Lowell game last week and now this one, both 2-0 leads.
"That's very uncharacteristic of our team, especially the way we've played all season. We've been very consistent."
Said Cornell coach Mike Schafer, "Our last few NCAA games we've given up 2-0 leads and have come back. Give Northeastern credit. They were able to find a way to get up on us."
Northeastern was nursing a 2-1 lead until Colin Greening notched a power-play goal for the Big Red with 3:56 left in the third.
Just when it appeared the game was heading into overtime, Barlow scored his 13th goal of the season.
Cornell had a 12-9 shot advantage in the first period but trailed, 1-0.
Louis Liotti opened the scoring with 40 seconds left in the first period during a four-on-four situation for his fourth goal of the season. He was set up by J.P. Maley and Steve Silva. Cornell had just gotten back to even strength when Liotti scored.
Silva made it 2-0 midway through the second period when he converted a breakaway for his fourth goal of the season. Chris Donovan assisted.
Cornell had to kill off three consecutive penalties. But the Big Red finally got on the board with 2:02 left in the second when Blake Gallagher flipped the puck past Brad Thiessen (29 saves) for his seventh goal of the season.
The goal was reviewed for a possible man-in-the-crease violation but the score stood.
"That goal gave us some life," Schafer said. "Our bench came alive when we got that goal."
"I really felt the game changed when we had three straight power plays with a 2-0 game," Cronin said.
"The power play has been our Achilles' heel all year. We've never been able to create a gap between ourselves and our opponents."
Northeastern was 0 of 8 with the extra man.
Ben Scrivens had 19 saves for Cornell, which had a 32-21 advantage in shots.
"College hockey fans were treated to two of the better goaltenders in the country tonight," Schafer said.
But on the winning goal, "our defenseman went down with the blocked shot and they picked it up," Thiessen said.
"They got a few good bounces and capitalized on them," said Huskies captain Joe Vitale.
Cronin said top scorer Wade MacLeod aggravated a groin pull after one shift.
"That disrupted our flow in the first unit," Cronin said.
"But you're up, 2-0. You can't lose a hockey game, especially in regulation, the way we did."
Northeastern was making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. Cornell is in its 17th NCAA Tournament and first since 2006.
Northeastern has not won an NCAA game since 1988, when it beat Merrimack, 5-3, in the first of a two-game, total-goal series during the quarterfinal round. Merrimack won the second game, 7-3, and the series, 10-8.
