Potsdam, NY – Senior Katie Morrison (Ridgefield, CT) scored her first goal of the season on a floating shot from the slot at 1:22 of overtime to lift the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team to a 2-1 ECAC Hockey victory over Rensselaer Friday night in front of 352 fans at Cheel Arena.
The Golden Knights, winners of four straight, improved to 8-2-1 overall and 2-1 in the ECAC, while Rensselaer fell to 6-3-1 and 1-1-1. Clarkson hosts Union at 4:00 pm on Saturday while the Engineers travel to St. Lawrence.
With two teams ranked first and fifth, respectively, in scoring defense nationally, one would expect a low-scoring affair, and the game lived up to its advanced billing as neither team could produce much offense through the first two periods, despite four power plays and 28 combined shots on goal.
Finally, the scoreless streak came to an end early in the third period when sophomore right wing Genevieve Lavoie (Delson, QUE) broke a six-game goalless streak by scoring her second power-play goal of the season on a backhand with less than a minute remaining in the man-advantage. Sophomore Carlee Eusepi (Oakville, ONT) earned her second assist of the season.
Rensselaer took little time to knot the score back up at 1-1 when Kendra Dunlop scored her fourth goal of the season off a rebound in front. An initial attempt was deflected off the pads of Clarkson goaltender Eve Grandmont-Berube (Drummondville, QUE) and Dunlop was able to pick up the puck in front for the equalizer. Rossli Chace and Nicole McDonald.
A handful of chances came for both teams in the next 10 minutes, but the best opportunity for either team came when freshman Daris Tendler (Verwood, QUE) picked up the puck near mid-ice and skated in on a break away but her shot was deflected wide by RPI goalkeeper Ashley Mayr with just 4:45 remaining in the third period. Not to be outdone was Grandmont-Berube, who made a save while lying on her side with just 12 seconds remaining as the Engineers made one last rush at the Clarkson net.
Morrison’s game-winner came when the puck found its way out to her stick and she skated in to the slot, flipping a wrist shot over the shoulder of Mayr. Jessica Cloutier (Parker, CO) picked up the assist.
Grandmont-Berube made 23 saves for the Knights and Mayr stopped 25 shots for the Engineers. Clarkson narrowly out shot Rensselaer 27-24.
