Junior Kira Hurley (Pickering, ONT) withstood a third period in which she was peppered with 16 shots to record her nation-leading 10th shutout as the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team defeated Yale 2-0 in New Haven, CT.
Ranked eighth in the country, the Golden Knights improve their record to 21-9-1 overall and to 12-5 in the ECAC Hockey League. With a win over Brown on Saturday, the Golden Knights will clinch one of the top four spots in the conference and a home-series for the first round of the playoffs.
Clarkson's only shot in the third period was a power-play empty-net goal with 28.5 seconds left by senior assistant captain Emma Madigan (Mississauga, ONT) that sealed the game, ending the Bulldogs' school-record seven-game unbeaten streak.
Hurley finished with 28 saves, while Yale goalie Sarah Love stopped 15.
The first period featured plenty of back-and-forth action and only one penalty. After a holding call against the Bulldogs (10-11-5, 7-6-4 ECACHL) , Yale immediately established the tone on the penalty kill. In part because of the time on the penalty kill, the Bulldogs were outshot 6-1 over the first half of the period. The Yale offense picked up steam as the game wore on and had two golden chances later in the first. Hurley was caught out of position twice, but sophomore Katie Morrison (Ridgefield, CT) blocked a shot by Sheila Zingler the first time and the next time the Bulldogs hit the post. Clarkson's shot edge at the end of the period was just 8-5.
The Bulldogs drew their first penalty on the Golden Knights 2:36 into the second period, but that was quickly negated by a whistle against Yale a minute later. During the 4-on-4 Clarkson's junior assistant captain Christine Bailkowski (Aurora, ONT) hit the post.
Another penalty on the Bulldogs at 10:30 led to the game's first goal. Sophomore Jessica Cloutier (Parker, CO) kept chipping away as the puck was loose in the crease and finally was able to put it past Love at the 11:16 mark. Freshman defenseman Sophie Doyon (Victoriaville, QUE) and junior assistant captain Ashley Shaidle (Hudson, OH) picked up assists on the play.
Love made a spectacular kick save to deny junior Lauren Lubrano (Ridgefielod, CT) on a 2-on-1 with a minute to play in the period, and Yale got another penalty on Clarkson with 36 seconds left.
A Yale flurry with four minutes to play ended with Hurley making a save on Tittman and Kristin Savard hitting the post.
Yale called a timeout with 1:53 to play, and shortly after that Love was pulled for an extra attacker. Hurley made a pair of saves on Deena Caplette and Crysti Howser before a high-sticking-contact to the head call on Yale dramatically changed the final minute of the game. Love came back on for the faceoff, then left the net when the play moved into the Clarkson end.
Clarkson finally got its first shot on net for the period with 28.5 seconds left, when Madigan controlled a loose puck at center ice and was able to skate in on the empty net and slide one that bounced off the post and in.
