With two games left in the 2017 portion of the schedule, the reigning National Champion Clarkson University Women's Hockey team will look to cap off a successful first half with a strong showing in NY's Capital District this weekend. The Golden Knights play at Union in Schenectady on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and then face off at Rensselaer in Troy on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.

Ranked third in the national polls, Clarkson owns a 15-3-1 overall record and is in a four-way tie for first place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 6-2 league mark.

Guided by 10th-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and assistant Britni Smith and Tony Maci, the Green and Gold take a four-game winning streak into the final games before the exam/holiday break. Clarkson, which shut out Syracuse 5-0 in Central NY on Tuesday, closes out a stretch of five games in 10 days with this weekend's road trip.

PDF of Union/RPI Series Notes
Video Stream (Fri.), Video Stream (Sat.)
Live Stats (Fri.), Live Stats (Sat.)  
ECAC Hockey Standings
USCHO.com Poll
USA Today Poll

• Senior Shea Tiley backstops the third-ranked defense in the country, which is allowing only 1.16 goals per game. Tiley ranks among the NCAA's best in all the major goaltending categories. She posts 1.19 goals against average (3rd in the nation), a .944 save percentage (3rd), a .816 winning percentage (6th) and leads the nation in shutouts with eight – three more than any other Division I goaltender. Tiley, who has started the last 32 games for the Green and Gold, is Clarkson's career leader in wins (94) and shutouts (32).
• Powered by the top line of junior left wing Loren Gabel, freshman right wing Elizabeth Giguere and sophomore center Michaela Pejzlova, the Knights boast the fourth-best scoring offense in the NCAA, averaging 3.89 goals per game.
• Giguere,  Gabel and Pejzlova are the leading three overall scorers in ECAC Hockey.
• One of the top freshmen in the country, Giguere has recorded 32 points, second most among the nation's rookies, on 13 goals and 19 assists. She has tallied at least one point in all but one game this season. Giguere posted her ninth multiple-point outing in Tuesday's win over Syracuse with one goal and two assists. She was was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week for the sixth time this season.
• Gabel tallied a pair of assists in the win at Syracuse to become the 13th Golden Knight all-time to reach the century club. Through 100 career games, Gabel has 53 goals and 47 assists, including 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists) this year.
• The Knights' hottest forward, Pejzlova has scored 11 goals over the past nine games. She has 26 points (15-11) on the year, including 11 goals and 14 points since October 28. She scored twice in the win at Syracuse, Pejzlova powers the second-ranked power play in the country (25.7%) with six goals on the man-advantage, second most in the NCAA.
• Among the top defensemen in the NCAA, Clarkson's captain Savannah Harmon is tied for fourth in the nation in scoring from the blueline with 19 points (3-16). Harmon is also closing in on 100 career points with 25 goals and 73 assists for 98 points through 138 games.

The Series:
Clarkson has dominated the series all-time against Union, leading 27-1-0. The lone Clarkson loss came on the road on November 4, 2011 when the Golden Knights fell 2-1. Since that day the Knights have won 11 straight against Union and have shut them out five times. Amanda Titus has been dominant against Union over her career, leading all Golden Knights scorers with three goals and four assists for seven points. Shea Tiley is 3-0-0 in three career games against Union. Tiley has yet to give up a goal against the Dutchwomen.

Clarkson has won five straight games against RPI and is 17-1-0 since the 2010-11 season. Clarkson last fell to RPI on the road on November 7, 2015 2-1. RPI and Clarkson played four times last year including a faceoff in the ECAC Quarterfinals. Clarkson swept RPI and outscored them 21-8 in the four contests. Clarkson leads the all-time series 21-5-2. Loren Gabel had been red hot in her six games against the Engineers scoring five goals and adding five assists for a team leading 10 points. Shea Tiley is 7-1-0 in her career vs RPI with a .913 save% and a 1.83 GAA.

Scouting Union
Union had a slow start to its season going 1-5-1 over their first seven games. The Dutchwomen currently hold a 4-10-2 overall record and are 3-3-1 on home ice compared to 1-7-1 on the road. Union is 3-3-0 in ECAC play and is tied for 9th. Union split ECAC road games this past weekend losing in overtime to Yale 5-4 on Friday and defeating Brown 5-1 on Saturday for their first road win of the year. Katelynn Russ leads the Dutchmen in goal scoring with six. Coco Francis has played in 13 games for Union this season and posts a 2.43 GAA and a .930 save percentage.

Scouting Rensselaer
RPI has played on the road for most of the first half of their season going 6-5-1 and are 1-2-3 on home ice. The Engineers sit at 7-7-4 prior to Friday's agem against St. Lawrence.  RPI is tied for 5th in the ECAC with a record of 4-1-1 in conference play. RPI enters this weekend on a three-game winning streak after a weekend sweep against Yale and Brown.