Oct. 4: Senior assistant captain Jessica Hon scored with just over two minutes remaining in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie with No. 7/8 Clarkson and help the Saints to an eventual 5-3 win over the defending national champion Golden Knights.

Hon was on the doorstep to tap in the rebound from a flat-angle shot by classmate Jacqueline Wand and beat goaltender Shea Tiley to put the Saints in front 4-3 with time winding down. Fellow senior Ellie Williams also picked up an assist on the play.

The win was a total team effort for St. Lawrence. Senior Carmen MacDonald made 32 saves on the night, while the players in front of her combined for 14 blocked shots. A much improved team from the exhibition game a week ago, the Saints were active in the defensive zone; breaking up countless passing attempts for the Golden Knights, composed in the neutral zone and aggressive with breakouts in transition.

"It was a great entertaining hockey game to start the year," Head Coach Chris Wells said.

The Saints had a 2-0 lead after the first period on a pair of goal by sophomore Brooke Webster, the team's leading returning scorer from a season ago. Webster started the 2014-15 season with a bang getting her team on the board just 1:57 into the game when she crashed the net and buried a rebound off a shot from Amanda Boulier at the blue line. Although starting netminder Emily Horn made the initial stop, Webster was able to tuck the rebound under her pads for her first goal of the night.

Her second came just under the midway point of the opening frame on the power play. With Clarkson defensemen Erin Ambrose in the box, Webster took a pass from junior defenseman Megan Armstrong at the top of the left circle and one-timed a shot into Horn's right shoulder. The puck popped into the air and rolled down Horn's back, trickling into the goal to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.

Clarkson came out strong in the second period and wasted little time cutting the lead in half, as Shannon MacAulay got the Knights on the board at the 2:42 mark. She tipped a pass from Brielle Bellerive right out in front for her first of two in the period.

But before MacAulay tallied her second, Saints first-year forward Kennedy Marchment buried her first collegiate goal at the 9:44 mark. Junior Abbey McRae won a battle in the corner and played the puck below the redline for the rookie. Marchment moved from right to left and tucked the puck between Horn's pads and the post to retake a two-goal lead and chase Horn out of the game.

But MacAulay and Olivia Howe scored a pair of power-play goals just 3:30 apart to pull the Golden Knights even at 3-3 heading into the third period.

Clarkson outshot St. Lawrence 13-8 and had a majority of the possession time in the third period, but it was the Saints who found the back of the net. After Hon scored the game-winning goal, junior Kailee Heidersbach added an empty-net score of her own to seal the victory.

"I felt we were fortunate to still have a chance midway through the third," Wells said. "Clarkson really took it to us at that point, so to be 3-3 still was a big boost. MacAulay was able to create so much out there with her efforts, we'll really need to be sharp tomorrow."

The Saints head to Cheel Arena tomorrow afternoon the second half of this home-and-home series for a 4 p.m. game against the Golden Knights.