The fourth season of Clarkson University Women’s Hockey got off to an impressive start as the Golden Knights overwhelmed the University of Vermont 9-0 at Cheel Arena on Friday night. It took just seven seconds for senior captain Lindsay Williams (Mississauga, ONT) to put Clarkson on top as the Green and Gold tallied six times in the opening period en route to their sixth straight victory over the Catamounts. Clarkson and Vermont will faceoff again on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. to complete the weekend series.
Williams opened the period with Clarkson’s quickest goal ever by picking up an errant, deflected pass just seconds after the opening faceoff, with assists going to senior Melissa Marshall (Oak Lawn, IL) and sophomore Marie-Jo Gaudet (Sherbrooke, QUE). The Knights continued to pile on from that point. Just 17 seconds later, senior Christine Bailkowski (Aurora, ONT) picked up a rebound and slid the second goal past the Vermont goaltender. Three of the next four scores for Clarkson came on the power play, including two 5x3 chances.
Gaudet connected on the man-advantage at 2:57, followed by an even-strength score from Marshall at 5:30. Gaudet tallied again with the man advantage at 8:38 and rookie Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) closed out the period with her first collegiate goal, a 5-on-3 marker at 17:02 as the Knights tied a school-record for goals in the first period.
Clarkson continued to roll in the second stanza and extended their lead to 8-0 through 40 minutes of play. Freshman Carlee Eusepi (Oakville, ONT) tallied her first collegiate goal, finishing off an assist from Selina for a 5-on-3 power-play marker at 5:06. Marshall netted her second goal of the contest at 9:48, converting on a give-and-go from Gaudet.
Junior Jessica Cloutier (Parker, CO) added an exclamation point to the impressive season-opening win with the ninth goal with 1:41 left in the third to give the Knights’ their third-highest goal total.
Clarkson dominated in shots with a 41-9 advantage. Senior Kira Hurley (Pickering, ONT) was called upon to make just nine saves, including only two in the first frame, in picking up her 18th career shutout.
The Knights, who boasted the top-rated penalty-killing unit in the NCAA last season, shut down the Catamounts’ four power-play opportunities while connecting on four of their 12 man-advantage chances.
