In a hard-fought battle between a pair of Top 10-ranked women’s hockey teams Clarkson University came out on top 2-1 over St. Lawrence University in a key ECAC Hockey game on Thursday night at Cheel Arena.
The fourth-ranked Golden Knights improve their record to 13-3-1 overall and move into a three-way tie for first place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 5-2 conference mark. Clarkson and St. Lawrence (7-5-3, 4-2-1) will go at it again, for the fourth time this season, on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. game at Appleton Arena in Canton.
After a scoreless 40 minutes of play, Clarkson grabbed the lead with a pair of goals three minutes apart early in the final period.
Junior Rhyen McGill (Whitby, ONT) scored the game’s first goal at 4:07 of the third, knocking in a loose puck at the edge of the crease after a shot from the point by senior defenseman Savannah Harmon (Downers Grove, IL). Clarkson’s captain picked up her 96th career point with the assist. Sophomore defenseman Ella Shelton (Ingersol, ONT) also assisted on McGills seventh goal of the year.
The Knights made it 2-0 at 7:01 when freshman sensation Elizabeth Giguere (Quebec City, QUE) fired in a wrist shot from the right circle just inside the far post for her 11th collegiate goal. Sophomore center Michaela Pejzlova (Pardubice, Czech Rep.) picked up the lone assist.
The eight-ranked Saints answered back with their only goal, a tally by Nadine Edney at 10:03. That was as close as St. Lawrence would get, however, as senior Shea Tiley (Owen Sound, ONT) turned aside any further scoring attempts by the Saints.
Clarkson outshot St. Lawrence 30-27. Tiley finished with 26 saves as the Green and Gold defeated their archrivals for the third time this season. Sonjia Shelly made 28 stops for the visitors.
Clarkson’s penalty kill played a huge role in the victory, killing off all six of St. Lawrence’s power-play chances, including a 71-second two-man advantage by the Saints late in the second period. The Knights went 0-of-2 on the power play.
