Women's Hockey | 11/2/2016 1:40:00 PM
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With two dominating wins to open up the ECAC Hockey slate, the eighth-ranked Clarkson Women's Hockey team will try to build upon that momentum as the Golden Knights take on two ranked conference foes in weekend action on the road.
Led by ninth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and assistant coaches Britni Smith and Tony Maci, Clarkson is 6-3-1 overall and 2-0-0 in ECAC Hockey, and is on a four-game winning streak. The Green and Gold are just 0-2-0 against ranked teams this year and will hope to improve that record when they battle fifth-ranked Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and tenth-ranked Princeton in New Jersey on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
After scoring 19 goals in its first eight games, Clarkson broke out for 10 in two victories last weekend at Cheel Arena. Clarkson started the weekend off with a 4-0 win over Harvard before knocking off Dartmouth 6-1. The seniors led the way in each game, with co-captain Cayley Mercer scoring two goals against Harvard, including the game-winner, and assistant captain Genevieve Bannon recording four points against Dartmouth as well as a game-winning goal of her own. Mercer now leads the team with 10 points while Bannon is tied for second with eight.
Michaela Pejzlova had her best statistical weekend of her brief collegiate career against Harvard and Dartmouth. The rookie forward had two assists against Harvard, her first career multi-point game and then followed that up with an assist against Dartmouth. It was the first time she has recorded at least a point in consecutive games. Pejzlova has six points so far this season and leads the team with a +7 mark. For her performances, she has been named to the ECAC Hockey Weekly Honor Roll twice and was recently named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month for October. She is the first Clarkson rookie to win the award since Loren Gabel earned it in February 2016.
Gabel joined Pejzlova, Ella Shelton, Mercer, Rhyen McGill, and Josiane Pozzebon as the five Golden Knights with at least a point in both games last weekend, while overall 15 Clarkson skaters had at least one point. 11 points from the sophomore class in the two games moves them into the top scoring class. The six second-year players have put up 28 points this season while the senior class is just behind with 27 points. Both the juniors and freshmen have 12 points so far.
Shea Tiley notched her 56th and 57th career wins and her 19th career shutout. Tiley is fourth in career shutouts at Clarkson and she is one behind both Lauren Dahm '11 and Kira Hurley '07 for second all-time. Tiley is third in the ECAC in goals against average (0.50) and save percentage (.974) in conference games.
McGill scored a power-play goal against Harvard and now has a team-high three on the season. That puts her in a tie for fourth place nationally while Gabel, Bannon, and Pozzebon are all tied for 13th with two extra man scores. Bannon is also tied for fifth nationally with two game-winning goals. Co-captain Savannah Harmon is tied for seventh in points per game among defensemen as the junior blue-liner has eight points this season. Finally, Pejzlova is tied for 16th in points per game among rookies.
Quinnipiac comes into the weekend ranked fifth in the country and sporting a 7-2-1 overall record and a perfect 2-0-0 conference mark. The Bobcats were the 2015-16 ECAC Hockey Regular Season and Conference Tournament Champions and were picked to finish first in the conference in the preseason coach's poll. So far, Taylor Cianfarano, the reigning ECAC Hockey Player of the Year, has started strong with 13 points on nine goals and four assists. Sydney Rossman has also been a key contributor in goal, and has five shutouts in 10 games.
Clarkson has an all-time record of 19-10-4 against the Bobcats. Last season saw the two teams square off in two memorable postseason contests. First, Quinnipiac was able to come away with a 1-0 win over the Golden Knights to claim its first ECAC Hockey Championship. However, just a week later Clarkson turned the tables and triumphed 1-0 on the road in the NCAA Quarterfinals to end Quinnipiac's season. That was the first Clarkson win over Quinnipiac since March of 2014. During that stretch, the Bobcats were 5-0-1 against Clarkson.
Princeton holds the tenth and final spot in the national rankings and is 3-0-1 overall and 1-0-1 in ECAC Hockey action. The Tigers opened their season with three consecutive victories, all by at least two goals, before a 1-1 tie at Yale. Princeton has gotten very balanced scoring so far, with three players tied for the team lead with five points and 15 players recording at least one point. Junior Alysia DaSilva has only played in 13 games in Princeton's goal, but she does have a 10-1-1 career record.
Clarkson has a slight edge in the all-time series at 13-12-2. The Golden Knights are currently riding a four game-winning streak against the Tigers, including a 3-0 home win and 2-1 road victory last season. Mercer has five points in six games against the Tigers while Tiley is a perfect 4-0-0 in four starts.
