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Clarkson Women's Hockey Clashes With Ranked Foes Princeton and Quinnipiac

By: Feb. 10, 2016
WHOCwin16
Clarkson Women's Hockey takes an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2) into a key ECAC Hockey weekend at Princeton and Quinnipiac - photo by Jim Meagher

Women's Hockey | 2/10/2016 9:53:00 AM

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Riding an 11-game unbeaten streak, the fifth-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team will travel to eighth-ranked Princeton and  fourth-ranked Quinnipiac for two games that could decide who finishes as ECAC Hockey champions.

Led by eighth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and second year assistant coaches Britni Smith and Meghan Duggan, the Golden Knights are 23-3-4 overall and 11-3-4 in ECAC Hockey games. The Golden Knights are in second place in the league, three points behind front runners Quinnipiac and just one point ahead of Princeton.

• ECAC Hockey standings
• USCHO.com Poll
• USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll
• NCAA Pairwise Rankings

The Golden Knights' offense exploded this past weekend, scoring 13 goals in two games, including a season high nine in a 9-1 win over Rensselaer. Clarkson had nine different players score a goal in the two games and 15 recorded at least one point. Leading the way was senior assistant captain Renata Fast who had a goal and two assists against Rensselaer and another assist against Union in the 4-1 win on Saturday. For her performances, Fast was named to the ECAC Weekly Honor Roll for the first time this season.

Junior assistant captain Cayley Mercer had an assist against Rensselaer and a pair of goals against Union. She now has 20 goals and 21 assists for a team high 41 points. After notching 44 points on 24 goals and 20 assists in 2014-15, Mercer is now just the third Clarkson player with consecutive 20 goal seasons and just the second player with consecutive seasons with both 20 goals and 20 assists. Mercer now 107 career points, which is the tenth highest total in Clarkson history. She needs four more points to tie former teammate Brittany Styner '14 for seventh all-time, passing Genevieve Lavoie '10 and Marie-Jo Gaudet '09 along the way.

Clarkson has the fifth best scoring margin in the country, outscoring opponents by 2.33 goals per game. That has led to great plus-minus ratios for Clarkson. Senior assistant captain Erin Ambrose is +21 on the season and is now +97 for her career, giving her the best plus-minus in Clarkson history. Also in the top five all-time are Mercer, who is third at +80, senior assistant captain Olivia Howe, who is fourth at +71, and Fast, who is fifth with a +67.

The goaltender duties were split last weekend for Clarkson, with sophomore goaltender Shea Tiley starting and playing the first two periods on Friday, before being relieved by junior McKenzie Johnson who started on Saturday. Tiley earned the win against Rensselaer and is now 20-3-4 on the season. Her 44 career wins and 16 career shutouts are fourth all-time among Clarkson goaltenders. Johnson now has a 3-0-0 record this season in three starts, all of which have come on a Saturday.

Since losing to Clarkson 3-0 on November 21st, eighth-ranked Princeton has been nearly perfect. The Tigers have won 14 of their past 15 games, the only blemish a 4-1 loss at Harvard. Princeton is 19-5-1 overall and 12-5-1 in ECAC Hockey. Princeton rarely gives up leads, going 19-2-0 when either ahead or tied after two periods. However, if a team takes a lead into the third period against the Tigers, Princeton has not been able to claw back, going just 0-3-1 in that situation. Princeton is led offensively by Karlie Lund, who has 34 points overall and 26 points in conference. The two teams are tied 12-12-2 all-time against each other with Clarkson on a five game unbeaten run (4-0-1) against the Tigers.  

Quinnipiac has held the top spot in the ECAC Hockey standings for most of the season. The fourth-ranked Bobcats are 23-2-4 this season with a 13-2-3 conference record. Quinnipiac has been especially dominant at home, racking up an 11-0-3 mark in friendly confines. However, the Bobcats will be looking to bounce back this weekend after their 21 game unbeaten streak was broken by Colgate in a 3-2 loss last Saturday. Included in that unbeaten streak was a 3-0 win at Clarkson on November 20th. Should Clarkson defeat Quinnipiac, the Golden Knights will have won all three rematches with teams that have beaten Clarkson this season. It will also break a four game winning streak for Quinnipiac against Clarkson. Overall, Clarkson leads the series 18-9-3.
 
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Players Mentioned

Erin Ambrose

#23 Erin Ambrose

D
5' 5"
Senior
Renata Fast

#12 Renata Fast

D
5' 7"
Senior
Olivia Howe

#16 Olivia Howe

F
5' 10"
Senior
McKenzie Johnson

#33 McKenzie Johnson

G
5' 7"
Junior
Cayley Mercer

#18 Cayley Mercer

F
5' 8"
Junior
Shea Tiley

#35 Shea Tiley

G
5' 10"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Erin Ambrose

#23 Erin Ambrose

5' 5"
Senior
D
Renata Fast

#12 Renata Fast

5' 7"
Senior
D
Olivia Howe

#16 Olivia Howe

5' 10"
Senior
F
McKenzie Johnson

#33 McKenzie Johnson

5' 7"
Junior
G
Cayley Mercer

#18 Cayley Mercer

5' 8"
Junior
F
Shea Tiley

#35 Shea Tiley

5' 10"
Sophomore
G