Clarkson Completes Weekend Sweep of St. Lawrence

Vanessa Gagnon and Genevieve Bannon celebrate a Clarkson goal in the 4-1 victory at St. Lawrence - photo by Jim Meagher

Box Score

After winning its first two games of the season with plenty of offense, the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team relied upon a solid defensive outing to defeat archrival St. Lawrence 4-1 at Appleton Arena in Canton on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Knights, who completed a non-conference sweep of their North Country neighbor, also skated past the Saints 5-2 at Cheel Arena on Friday night.

Clarkson, which opened the year with a 12-1 rout of RIT in Potsdam on September 28, plays another non-league, home-and-home series this coming weekend. The Green and Gold, who stand at 3-0, play at Syracuse on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and then host the Orange the following day in a 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon contest.

"I thought tonight was great team effort from start to finish," said Clarkson co-head coach Matt Desrosiers. "We had a balanced attack with many players contributing offensively, and played strong in our own end not giving up too many quality scoring chances. I thought we were able to create some good scoring chances for ourselves by keeping things simple and playing Clarkson hockey."

Clarkson outshot St. Lawrence 30-17 on the Saints' home ice and limited the home team to just eight shots over the final 40 minutes. Senior Erica Howe (Ottawa, ONT) made 16 saves, including nine first-period stops to post her 62nd career win.

Four different players accounted for the Clarkson goals.

The Knights scored early and late in the opening frame to hold a 2-0 advantage through the first period. Senior Shelby Nisbet (Wiseton, SASK) started the scoring at 1:52 when she lifted in a rebound at the side of the net after a shot by sophomore Olivia Howe (Moose Jaw, SASK). Freshman Genevieve Bannon (Candiac, QUE) started the play by working the puck free along the boards and sending a pass up to Howe.

With the period winding down, Clarkson struck again as senior defenseman Vanessa Plante (Riviere-du-Loup, QUE) fired in shot from the point through traffic that classmate Vanessa Gagnon (St. Constant, QUE) knocked in at 17:37. Senior Brittany Styner (Calgary, ALB) assisted.

After a scoreless second period, the Knights sandwiched a pair of goals around St. Lawrence's lone tally to clinch its fifth victory in their last six meetings against the Saints.

Bannon collected her second collegiate goal at 3:38 of the final frame, knocking in a rebound in front for a power-play marker. Plante set up the goal with a shot from the point. Gagnon also assisted.

St. Lawrence got on the scoreboard with its own power-play goal, midway through the period as Jackie Wand scored during a scramble in front at 8:11.

The Saints pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker with 2:46 remaining, but the Green and Gold withstood the pressure and sealed the win with an empty-net goal by senior Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, ONT) with 34.3 seconds left. Nisbet and sophomore defenseman Jennifer Shields (Ingersoll, ONT) assisted.

Clarkson went 1-of-4 on the power play and killed off three of four St. Lawrence man-advantage opportunities.

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