APPLETON, Wis. -- It will go down as a tie and a shootout loss, but it sure felt like a win Saturday for the Lawrence University men's hockey team.
    The Vikings trailed by three goals early and were down two in the third period but came back to forge a 4-4 overtime tie with Marian University in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Appleton Ice Center. Marian won the shootout 1-0. 
    With a win on Friday and the tie Saturday, Lawrence also took back the Battle of Highway 41 trophy. Lawrence (8-15-2, 4-10-2 NCHA) also clinched a berth in the NCHA Harris Cup playoffs. Lawrence is the sixth seed and faces third-seeded Trine University next weekend in a quarterfinal series.  
    Marian jumped on the Vikings with three goals in the first four minutes of the game, but Lawrence battled back. The Vikings got a power-play goal from Miles McCue at the 14:05 mark to trim the lead to 3-1. Kyle Gierman and Jayden Jensen both picked up assists on McCue's goal.
    Lawrence pulled closer early in the second period with another power-play goal. Carter Cloutier scored off assists from Cole Schneider and Cory Checco at the 4:21 mark to cut the margin to 3-2. Lawrence finished 2-for-5 on the power play, and Marian was 1-for-5.
    Marian stretched the lead back to 4-2 on Blake Kleiner's power-play goal at the 7:41 mark of the third. 
    That two-goal lead didn't last long as Lawrence struck back less than a minute later. Checco won a faceoff in the Marian zone, and the puck went to Adam Brzezicki, who fired a wrist shot past Aaron Brunn at hte 8:39 mark to cut the lead to 4-3.
    Lawrence then got the equalizer with just under three minutes left. Hugh Anderson tucked a shot inside the left post for his first goal of the season with 2:59 left to tie the game at 4-4. McCue and Ethan Beaumont both picked up assists.
    Both teams had good scoring chances in the overtime but neither was able to score. Jordan Simoneau was the third Marian shooter and got the only tally of the shootout. 
    Owen Carlson came on in relief of Nolan Mahaffey in goal for the Vikings and stopped 28 shots. Brunn made 35 saves for Marian (9-15-1, 3-12-1).