And the final assault with six skaters--goalie Grant Blair had been pulled with less than a minute left--began anew.

But if only for a goal with 53 seconds left...

"I still felt we could have tucked one in," defennseman Randy Taylor said. "But they played well."

But those six Crimson skaters--Lane MacDonald, Tim Barakett, Allen Bourbeau, Taylor, Pawloski and Fusco--couldn't put the puck past Knight goalie Jamie Falle, who stopped 10 shots in the final period to give his fifth-seeded club a stunning upset.

And it was Knight forward Luciano Borsato who charged down to the Harvard end with four seconds left in the game, stole the puck from Fusco and slipped a shot into the open net to assure Clarkson a spot in the 9 p.m. contest today.

But if only for a hero with 53 seconds left...

Meanwhile, Fusco lay with his face in the ice.

In the same game against the same team last year, Fusco had knocked in a goal with less than a minute left to give the Crimson a 2-1 triumph and a berth in the tournament final.

But he couldn't repeat the magic this year.

"I would like to have done it," Fusco said. "But it doesn't happen every time."

He had chances.

With 11 minutes left in the contest, Fusco drove from deep in his own end to within five feet of the Knight net.

He tried to slip a shot under Falle's pads but the senior netminder sent the puck skidding away.

Bourbeau might have grabbed the glory too.

He took a long pass from defenseman Don Sweeney with six minutes left in the game, drove down the center of the ice and faked Falle out of position.