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Ranked among the top teams in the country throughout the season, and boasting a 23-11-5 overall record, the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team has been rewarded for its outstanding season by earning its first ever berth in the national tournament. The Golden Knights, guided by second-year co-head coaches Shannon and Matt Desrosiers, have gained an at-large bid into the 2010 NCAA Women’s Hockey Tournament and will play at the University of Minnesota in the first NCAA postseason game in the program’s seven-year history. 

The Knights and Golden Gophers (25-8-5) will faceoff in the postseason on Saturday, March 13 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, MN. Game time is 4:00 p.m. CST. The winner of the one-game regional will advance to the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four, held at Ridder Arena, March 19 and 21.

This will be the third meeting between Clarkson and Minnesota this season. The Gophers shutout the Green and Gold twice (4-0, 2-0) at Ridder Arena on November 27-28 in the first ever meetings between the two squads.

The Green and Gold, led by senior captain Britney Selina (Thornhill, ONT) and senior assistant captain Carlee Eusepi (Oakville, ONT), enjoyed their best season ever in ECAC Hockey finishing second in the league with a 14-5-3 conference mark. Clarkson advanced all the way to its first ECAC Hockey Tournament title game appearance this past Sunday at Cornell. The Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit midway through the second period on goals from junior Melissa Waldie (Newmarket, ONT) and sophomores Juana Baribeau (Amos, QUE) and Danielle Boudreau (Whitby, ONT) to force overtime against the Big Red. Cornell, the regular season champions, pulled out the title-game win with the deciding goal 7:52 into the extra session.

Clarkson began postseason play by knocking off archrival St. Lawrence University 2-1 in league quarterfinal-round action at Cheel Arena in Potsdam on February 26-28. Clarkson dominated Game 1 of the best-of-three series, skating to a 5-0 shutout over the Saints. SLU eked out a 2-1 win the next night, forcing Sunday’s third game. Clarkson controlled the deciding game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead early in the third en route to a 4-1 triumph.

In the conference semifinal game against highly-rated Harvard at Cheel Arena on March 5, the Knights displayed their depth. The Crimson bottled up Clarkson’s top offensive threats, but checking line forwards, junior Daris Tendler (Verwood, SASK) and sophomores Brittany Mulligan (London, ONT) and Gabrielle Kosziwka (Limehouse, ONT) came through with the goals, while junior Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY) was solid in goal to lead Clarkson to the 3-2 victory.

Senior Dominique Thibault (L’Orignal, ONT), a third-team ECAC All-Star, leads Clarkson with 40 points, including a team-high 21 goals. Two other Knights are recording over 30 points. Baribeau has 36 points on 17 goals and 19 assists. Clarkson’s all-time leading scorer, Selina, a second-team ECAC All-Star, has tallied a team-high 25 assists to go along with 10 goals for 35 points. Selina, named the ECAC Best Defensive Forward, has amassed 147 career points on 50 goals and 97 assists through 147 games. Waldie has 29 points (17-12) and leads the team in power-play markers with 10. Named the league’s Best Defensive-Defenseman, and a second-team All-Star, Eusepi powers the offense from the blueline with 18 points (6-12). A Second-team ECAC All-Star, Dahm backbones one of the nation’s stingiest defensive units. She holds a .933 save percentage, 1.56 GAA and is second in the nation in shutouts (9).

The number three seed in the NCAA Tr, Minnesota owns a 25-8-5 overall record and tied for first in the WCHA with an 18-6-4 mark. The Gophers fell by one goal to Minnesota-Duluth in the WCHA Final Face-Off Championship on Sunday at Ridder Arena.

Knight Notes:
Clarkson has gone 9-5-4 against teams ranked in the national polls and has gone 5-5-2 against participants in the 2010 NCAA Tournament … The Knights are one win shy of tying the program’s record for victories in a season (24 set in 2007-08) … Clarkson is 16-0-0 when leading after two periods, but 0-4-1 when trailing after the opening 20 minutes ... A senior transfer from the University of Connecticut, Dominique Thibault has been a great addition to the Clarkson lineup and leads the Green and Gold with 21 goals and 40 points … The Knights’ second-leading scorer with 36 points, Juana Baribeau is a dangerous scorer with 17 goals and a unselfish playmaker with 19 assists. She leads the Knights in playoff points with five (2-3) … Clarkson’s all-time leading scorer with 147 career points, Britney Selina holds the majority of assist records at Clarkson (season -27, career – 97). She rounds out the Knights’ 30-point scorers this season with 10 goals and 25 assists … Melissa Waldie is four points shy of the century mark with 96 points on 51 goals and 45 assists through 111 career games, including 29 points (17-12) this season. She is the Knights’ all-time leader in power-play goals with 26, including 10 this year … A standout all-around defenseman, Carlee Eusepi is Clarkson’s career scoring leader from the blueline with 72 points (18-54) through 146 games. She boasts a career +57 plus/minus. Eusepi has 18 points (6-12) and a team-high +21 this season … Kali Gillanders is a solid checking-line forward who has the knack for coming up with the big goal. All three of her scores this season have been game-winners … Genevieve Lavoie is Clarkson’s second all-time leading scorer with 110 career points (45-65) … Daris Tendler, who opened the scoring in the Knights’ 3-2 victory over Harvard in the ECAC semifinal game (3/5), has six goals, five assists and a +18 in her junior campaign … Gabrielle Kosziwka leads Clarkson in playoff goals this season with three. Four of her nine points (7-2) have come in the postseason … Brittany Mulligan is a tenacious checking line forward who has tallied eight points (5-3), including a goal against Harvard in postseason (3/5) … Forward Danielle Skirrow and defenseman Hailey Wood, the lone freshmen skaters for Clarkson both have seven points (1-6) … Tegan Schroeder is a solid defensive-defenseman who posts a +19 along with six points (2-4) … Danielle Boudreau is coming off her first career multiple-point game with a goal and a assist at Cornell in the ECAC Championship last Sunday. A defenseman, she has five points (2-3) this year … Courtney Olson and Katelyn Ptolemy are both solid defensive-defensemen with four points each. Ptolemy set up the game-winning goal in the 3-2 ECAC Semifinal victory over Harvard (3/5) … Ashleigh Moorehead and Caitlin Oleksa provided Clarkson with strong support on the checking lines … Lauren Dahm has played all but one game in the Clarkson goal and is ranked seventh in the nation in save percentage (.933), eighth in GAA (1.56) and second in shutouts (9). She has 19 career shutouts … Freshman goaltender, Kelsey Neumann has played just one game (4-2 loss at St. Lawrence) ... Clarkson is ranked seventh in the nation in team defense (1.69 goal allowed average) and 14th in scring offense (2.62 GPG) ... Co-Head Coach Shannon Desrosiers played in the first Women’s Frozen Four with St. Lawrence in 2001 in Minneapolis.