Schenectady, NY - Freshman Genevieve Lavoie (St. Laurent, QUE) scored a pair of power-play goals as the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team shut out Union, 4-0, to end the regular season with its third straight ECACHL victory on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Knights improved to 18-13-3 overall and evened their conference record to 10-10-2 while Union remained winless in league play at 0-22-0, moving to 4-26-0 on the season. Clarkson's victory, grouped with a Princeton win and a St. Lawrence win, sends the Golden Knights down Route 11 next weekend as the Green and Gold will face its geographical nemesis St. Lawrence in the first round of the ECACHL Playoffs. Clarkson dropped both of its games against the Saints this season.
Clarkson dominated the game from the drop of the puck as the team out shot Union 22-2 in the opening frame, managing two quick goals. Senior Ashley Shaidle (Hudson, OH) scored less than four minutes into the game with assists going to juniors Brooke Beazer (Kingston, ONT) and Katie Morrison (Ridgefield, CT). Just four minutes later, the Knights tallied against as Lavoie scored a power-play marker at 7:55. Classmate Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) recorded the first of two assists on the day on the score, and Beazer recorded her second assist of the game.
The second and third periods were more of the same for Clarkson as the Golden Knights out shot Union by a 57-14 margin, the largest margin and quantity of shots this season for the Green and Gold. Lavoie scored her second power-play goal of the game at 10:14 with assists again going to Beazer and Selina. In the third period, senior Christine Bailkowski (Aurora, ONT) added a third power-play goal for Clarkson at 6:54. Shaidle and Amanda Dittmer (Chatham, ONT) each assisted.
Saturday's game offered several storylines for the Golden Knights at the close of the season. Lavoie finished the game with Clarkson single-season records for both goals (23) and points (35), Selina's two assists pushed her to a new single-season mark for helpers in a season (18), and Shaidle's two-point game left her just two points shy of 100 points in her career.
Kira Hurley (Pickering, ONT) stopped 14 shots for her 20th career shutout. Union's Amanda Hanson was peppered with 57 shots, and she was capable in net, making 53 saves for the Dutchwomen. Clarkson went 3-for-4 on the power play while Union was held scoreless in two man-advantage opportunities.
