Potsdam, NY – Senior goaltender Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY) made 25 saves for her first shutout of the season and the 20th of her career as the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team halted a three-game winless streak with a 4-0 blanking of the University of Vermont in front of 108 fans Saturday afternoon at Cheel Arena.

The Golden Knights improved to 6-8-3 while Vermont dropped to 1-7-8. While Clarkson concluded its three-game winless drought by tying its highest goal output of the season (4), the Catamounts saw their winless streak extended to 11 games, though they have six ties in that run. Clarkson returns to ECAC Hockey conference action next weekend when it closes out the semester at Colgate and Cornell.

After an uneventful first period, the second period saw both teams have their chances. Clarkson skated on a 4-on-4 to begin the period, but ended with a power play chance that nearly ended in a goal as three Clarkson players swiped at the puck in the crease before Vermont goaltender Kelci Lanthier and the Catamounts cleared the puck away. The Catamounts inability to possess the puck after a Clarkson shot came back to bite them just a few moments later as the Knights tallied the first goal of the contest. Senior Melissa Waldie (Newmarket, ONT) skated in along the boards and took a shot near the center of the left circle, which was stopped by Lanthier. Unfortunately for Vermont, the puck wasn’t held and bounced out to the top of the crease, where sophomore Danielle Skirrow (Trenton, ONT) crashed the net and pushed the puck across the goal line at 4:21 in the second period. The goal was Skirrow’s team-leading sixth of the season, while Waldie recorded her fourth helper of the campaign.

Clarkson looked ready to pile on in the next few minutes as the Knights hit two posts immediately following the score and then had a two-on-one short-handed chance that was blocked by Lanthier. Vermont was not without its chances, taking advantage of Clarkson’s penalties. The Catamounts, after recording four of their seven shots while on the power play in the first period, had half of their 10 shots in the second period come during the power play.

With the period winding down, Clarkson was able to pick up a big goal going into the second intermission. Junior Juana Baribeau (Amos, QUE) took control of the puck behind the Vermont net and fed freshman Carly Mercer (Exeter, ONT) in the slot. The first-year forward calmly lifted the puck past Lanthier, giving the Knights a 2-0 lead at 18:19. Classmate Brittany Styner (Calgary, ALB) joined Baribeau on the scoring with an assist.

Waldie added another insurance goal for the Knights in the third period when she picked up the puck close to mid-ice and skated in along the left side of the boards. There, she wristed a shot near the top of the circle, directing the puck with pinpoint accuracy over the right shoulder of the Vermont goaltender at 13:59, her sixth score of the season.

Vermont pulled the goalie in the final minutes, hoping to get back into the game with an extra attacker, but an interference penalty just a minute later took away that advantage and in fact put the Catamounts back on the defensive down a player when they least needed it.

The penalty proved to be a significant switch as the Knights scored late in the power-play chance as Baribeau wristed a wobbling shot from just inside the blue line past Lanthier’s stick at 17:34. Katelyn Ptolemy (Dinsmore, SASK) and Jamie-Lee Rattray (Kanata, ONT) each earned assists on Clarkson’s fourth goal.

Dahm concluded the game with 25 saves and Vermont’s Lanthier matched that total with 25 of her own. Clarkson owned a 29-25 edge in shots, going 1-for-2 on the power play. Vermont was scoreless in its five chances with an extra skater.