Warriors until the bitter end, Colorado College's Tigers bowed out of the WCHA Final Five holding their heads high on Friday. 

They fell short of advancing to Saturday's tournament championship game and a shot at their first-ever Broadmoor Trophy, suffering a 4-3 defeat to the No. 1-ranked University of North Dakota.

But one thing is for certain. No one in the crowd of 15,008 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., was asking for his or her money back.

It took a late goal by senior right wing Matt Frattin, the WCHA Player of the Year, at 14:20 of the third period to lift the Fighting Sioux to victory and extend their unbeaten streak to 12 games. UND, the hottest team in the country, is 11-0-1 since losing to CC, 4-2, at the World Arena on Jan. 28.

Now Colorado College, 22-18-3 overall for the season, plays a waiting game to find out whether its season continues with an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. While the results of a couple key games from other conferences on Saturday will provide some clues, the 16-team NCAA field and brackets won't be officially announced until Sunday morning.

Sophomore center Rylan Schwartz scored twice in Saturday's contest, putting the Tigers ahead 2-1 at 5:14 of the second period and pulling them even at 3-3 with a power-play goal midway through the third. His younger brother, freshman left wing Jaden Schwartz, assisted on all three CC tallies.

Sophomore netminder Joe Howe was sensational between the pipes, steering away 34 of 38 attempts by the Sioux, who came out flying from the outset and grabbed an early lead on Danny Kristo's unassisted goal just 2:44 into the battle.

By the time the first-period buzzer sounded, however, Colorado College had knotted the score on senior winger Stephen Schultz's blast from the left faceoff circle during a power play with 2:36 left in the frame. And, from that point on, the Tigers settled down and forced UND to earn its triumph.

A shorthanded goal by Brad Malone gave North Dakota 3-2 lead at 8:30 of the final stanza before Rylan Schwartz's second red lighter at 11:10 set the stage for Frattin, who also assisted on the tally by Malone as UND improved to 29-8-3.