Schenectady, NY – Following a month long lay off, nothing much changed for the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team: another conference game, and another win. The Golden Knights continued to sit atop the ECAC Hockey standings with a 3-1 victory over Union College Friday night.

The Golden Knights, ranked third in the country in both national polls, improved to 15-4-1 overall and 9-1-0 in conference games. Union, though improved this season, fell to 4-16-1 and 0-8-1. Clarkson looks to sweep the away weekend against Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon.

For the fifth straight game, the Golden Knights were unable to score in the first period, but the second period proved to be more fruitful for Clarkson. With less than two minutes remaining in the period, sophomore Brittany Mulligan (London, ONT) scored her second goal of the season, an even-strength marker, to break the scoreless tie between the two teams. Freshman Hailey Wood (Lethbridge, ALB) was given the lone assist on the goal.

Just a minute after Mulligan’s goal, the Knights scored what proved to be the game-winner when senior Dominique Thibault (L’Orignal, ONT) scored her team-high 12th goal of the season, and her league-high eighth in conference action, coming late on a power play. Classmate Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) picked up her 15th assist of the season.

Though Clarkson was controlling the pace of play and enjoying more possession time than the Dutchwomen, Union was able to stay in the game thanks to a third-period, power-play goal with just over six minutes remaining. However, the Knights received an insurance goal in the final minute when sophomore Juana Baribeau (Amos, QUE) recorded her 10th goal of the season, an empty-netter, with Daris Tendler (Verwood, SASK) assisting, at 19:29.

Clarkson finished with a 40-20 edge in shots in the game as Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY) made 19 saves for her 15th victory of the campaign. Alana Marcinko stopped 37 shots for Union.