It took 18 games and more than two months, but the third-ranked St. Lawrence University women's hockey team finally saw its unbeaten streak end with a 4-1 loss at the hands of fifth-ranked Clarkson on Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena in Canton. St. Lawrence fell to 15-1-2 overall, 8-1-1 in ECAC Hockey contests, while Clarkson improved to 14-3-3, 9-0-1.

The Golden Knights' top line of Cayley Mercer, Michaela Pejzlova and Genevieve Bannon combined for three goals and 10 points to build a 4-0 lead early in the third period, and while the Saints did respond with an extra attacker goal a few minutes later, they were unable to beat Clarkson goaltender Shea Tiley again.

"Clarkson really capitalized on some very nice transition goals to separate themselves today," said Saints head coach Chris Wells. "Tiley was strong in net and Clarkson back checked great all night, which made it very difficult to get clean plays through."

Savannah Harmon gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead with a power play goal halfway through the first period with a one-timer on a pass from Pejzlova from the slot. Mercer also picked up an assist on the play.



Mercer got her second point of the night late in the second period, finishing a pass on a breakaway feed from Bannon after the Golden Knights won a faceoff in their own zone. Pejzlova increased the lead to 3-0 early in the third period, beating Saints' goaltender Grace Harrison with a hard shot from the slot on a feed from Bannon from behind the net.

Bannon capped the scoring for Clarkson a few minutes later, finishing a feed from Pejzlova right outside the crease. Mercer also had assists on both of Clarkson's third period goals, finishing with one goal and three assists, while Pejzlova and Bannon both had a goal and two assists.

Brooke Webster scored the lone goal for St. Lawrence with an empty net for an extra attacker. Webster took a pass from Kirsten Padalis and faked out a Clarkson defender to create some space before sending a low shot from between the circles past Tiley for her 10th goal of the season.

St. Lawrence held a 24-15 advantage in shots on goal, two days after being outshot by the Golden Knights 25-16 in a 3-3 tie at Cheel Arena in Potsdam. Harrison made 11 saves for the Saints, while Tiley stopped 23 shots.

"That was another great game here tonight," said Wells. "We played hard and probably played better tonight than Thursday. It was a great weekend of hockey and I think the fans were entertained."

The Saints will take a break for exams and holidays before opening 2017 with an exhibition game against Carleton University at home on Jan. 4, then head to Washington, D.C. for two games against Mercyhurst at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Jan. 7-8.

NOTES: Clarkson's power play goal snapped a streak of 33 consecutive successful penalty kills for St. Lawrence. The Saints have killed off 59-of-63 opponent power plays, good for a 93.7 percent kill rate, which ranks first in the nation. ... St. Lawrence and Clarkson both won one game, lost one, and tied two in this year's regular season series.