In the final game of 2016, the fourth-ranked Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team beat visiting Syracuse 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in Cheel Arena.
Clarkson extends its unbeaten streak to 16 games and is now 15-3-4 on the season while Syracuse falls to 5-8-5.
“Today was a much better game and effort from the team than what we saw yesterday,” stated Head Coach Matt Desrosiers. “It’s been a long, tough semester so we wanted to make sure we headed into the break on a positive note. Overall we have had a great first half of the season, so we need to take this time off as an opportunity to recharge the batteries and come back ready and focused to finish the season strong.”
Coming off a 2-2 tie against Syracuse on Friday night, Clarkson came out firing to ensure the Golden Knights earned a win on Saturday. Clarkson got on the board 4:45 into the first period. Corie Jacobson ripped a slapshot from the blue-line that was just saved by the Syracuse goaltender. However, as the Orange tried to clear the puck, Jacobson intercepted it and lined up another slapshot from nearly the same spot. Her second effort found twine to open the scoring.
Clarkson really opened up the gap in the second period. The Green and Gold added a second goal 8:17 into the frame. It came after Rhyen McGill circled around the back of the Syracuse net. McGill was unable to score, but during a scramble in front of the goal, Cassidy Vinkle was able to flick the puck into the goal. The next goal came at 11:00 with co-captain Cayley Mercer scoring. Assistant captain Genevieve Bannon started the movement down the right side and sent a pass ahead to Michaela Pejzlova, Pejzlova stopped to allow a trailing Syracuse defender to skate by, and then dropped a pass to Mercer who tapped into the goal. Just 45 seconds later Clarkson added a fourth goal. Jessica Gillham played a give-and-go with McGill and then Gillham was able to lift a shot that deflected off the back of the Syracuse goaltender and in.
The Orange got one goal back at 16:15 in the middle period when Alysha Burriss got free on the left side and then squared a pass to Heather Schwarz who scored. However, that was the only goal for Syracuse.
Clarkson finished with a 36-25 advantage in shots. Clarkson was 0-6 on power-plays while Syracuse finished 0-4 on extra man opportunities. McKenzie Johnson finished with 24 saves for Clarkson.
Clarkson will return to action on January 13th against Yale.
