Box Score Oct. 4: The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team squared off with North Country rival No. 3 Clarkson University on Friday at Cheel Arena in the first of four regular season meetings.  Clarkson's Erin Ambrose scored a hat trick while the Golden Knights' penalty killing unit allowed only one goal on eight tries as the home team skated to a 5-2 non-conference victory.

The Saints (1-2) were outshot 36-27 including a 15-6 effort by Clarkson (2-0) in the third period.  Senior captain Dayle Wilkinson and first-year Brooke Webster scored the goals for St. Lawrence.

"This was another exciting early season game with Clarkson.  We were able to weather their attack early in the game, and once we settled in, we played some great hockey," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells, whose team has not won in Clarkson's arena since February of 2010.  "Clarkson does such a nice job in so many areas and that showed tonight."

The Golden Knights came out firing, opening up a 10-1 advantage in shots on goal in the opening minutes against Saints' sophomore goalie Giulia Mazzocchi, who started in place of the injured Carmen MacDonald.  The consistent pressure finally led to the game's opening goal at 6:41, when Ambrose laced a slap shot through traffic past the netminder for her fourth of the season.

The Saints would respond quickly, tying the game at 1-1 a mere :35 seconds later on the power play.  Sophomore Abbey McRae found senior captain Mel Desrocher, who fired a shot just wide of Clarkson goalie Erica Howe.  However, the puck bounced off the end board right to fellow senior captain Dayle Wilkinson, who one-timed a shot into the net for her first of the season.

Clarkson would regain the lead at 2-1 on a power play of its own at 16:13, as Ambrose again connected on a slap shot thanks to a nifty pass from Carly Mercer.  Brittany Styner also assisted on the goal that capped the first period scoring.

Though St. Lawrence played perhaps its best hockey in the second period, the Saints saw their deficit grow to 3-1 after 40:00 minutes.  The visitors outshot Clarkson 15-9 in the second period thanks to five power play tries, but came away empty.  Ambrose would complete the hat trick and give her team a 3-1 lead at 11:25, wristing a shot past Mazzocchi from the high-slot, with assists going to Jamie Lee Rattray and Vanessa Plante.

Styner would make it 4-1 only :13 seconds into the third period, scoring on rush up ice and fooling Mazzocchi up top for her first of the season.  However, Webster responded for St. Lawrence only 15 seconds later, scoring her first goal as a Saint when she avoided a defender in the left circle and beat Howe.  Wilkinson assisted on the goal that made it 4-2.

St. Lawrence was unable to sustain any offensive momentum after Webster's goal, as the majority of scoring chances went to the Golden Knights.  Clarkson would ice the game with 3:00 minutes remaining as Rattray scored an empty net goal for the 5-2 victory.
The two teams combined for 16 penalties in the game, as St. Lawrence was 1-for-8 on the power play while Clarkson was 1-for-7.  Mazzocchi closed with 31 saves in the loss, while Howe made 25 stops in the victory.

St. Lawrence will look to rebound tomorrow, Saturday, October 5 when it hosts Clarkson at Appleton Arena in a non-conference rematch.  The puck is scheduled to drop at 3:00pm.