Freshman Genevieve Lavoie (St. Laurent, QUE) recorded her second career hat trick and added one assist to lead the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team to a 4-2 victory over Yale before 172 fans in ECAC Hockey League action at Cheel Arena on Friday night. The Golden Knights, who extended their season-best win streak to four games, improve their record to 9-6-2 overall and to 4-4-1 in the ECACHL. Clarkson hosts Brown on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
After a scoreless opening 30 minutes of play against Yale, Clarkson struck three times over the final 10 minutes of the second period to gain the momentum. At 10:58, junior Katie Morrison (Ridgefield, C) broke out of an 11-game goal-scoring drought when she finished off passes from freshmen Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) and Lavoie, connecting on a shot from in tight for her fifth goal of the year.
Lavoie recorded her first goal of the game at 15:59 as she picked up a rebound from the backboards off a shot from the point by junior defenseman Amanda Dittmer (Chatham, ONT) and tucked in shot. Junior Jessica Cloutier (Parker, CO) also assisted. With one minute left in the middle frame, Lavoie put the Knights up 3-0, knocking in a rebound off freshman defenseman Carlee Eusepi’s (Oakville, ONT) shot from the blueline while on the power play. Selina started the play with a pass back to Eusepi from the left boards.
Yale got on the scoreboard at 8:30 of the third with a power-play tally from Mandi Schwartz, but the Knights regained the four-goal advantage at 12:00 as Lavoie completed the hat trick with her team-high 11th goal of the season. Lavoie has scored 10 goals over the past six games.
The Bulldogs tried to rally back late when they pull their goaltender for the extra attacker. The moved paid off when Kelsey Johnson scored Yale’ second goal with 2:15 remaining, but time ran out before the Bulldogs could connect again.
Yale out shot Clarkson 33-21, but senior Stephanie Hansen (Calgary, ALB), making her seventh straight start, posted a season-high 31 saves to improve her record to 6-1. Ansley LaHue made 17 stops for the Bulldogs. The Knights were 1-of-3 on the power play, while Yale was 1-of-2 on the man advantage.
Yale, at 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the ECACHL, plays at St. Lawrence on Saturday.
