With a flurry of early goals, the fifth-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team defeated Penn State 4-2 on Friday night in Cheel Arena.

Clarkson starts it season at 1-0 while Penn State drops to 0-1.

"It's always great to get the first win of the season under your belt," stated Clarkson Head Coach Matt Desrosiers. "Even though it was a tough game to get into any kind of rhythm due to all the penalties, we were still able to learn a few things about our team. Hopefully we can take the positives from tonight's game and build upon those heading into tomorrow."

In the first all-time meeting between the two teams, Clarkson gave the Nittany Lions a rude welcome by jumping out to an early 4-0 lead. Corie Jacobson got the first goal of the season for the Golden Knights just 2:19 into the contest. The goal came when captain Cayley Mercer found her at the top of the crease and Jacobson was able to rifle home a shot. Rhyen McGill also picked up an assist on the goal.

Just over seven minutes later, McGill doubled the lead with a power-play goal. Assistant captain Genevieve Bannon and captain Savannah Harmon had the assists.

After leading 2-0 at the end of the first period, Clarkson continued to score in the first part of the second frame. Bannon scored a power-play goal of her own 55 seconds into the middle period for her 99th career point with Harmon adding another assist. At 6:01, Clarkson continued the offensive rampage when Michaela Pejzlova scored her first collegiate goal. Loren Gabel and Josiane Pozzbon notched the assists on the goal.

Penn State however, did not fold and got one goal back at the 13:20 mark in the second period when Kelsey Crow scored a power-play goal off a pass from Victoria Samuelsson. The Nittany Lions grabbed another goal 2:20 into the third period when Laura Bowman scored. With the momentum in Penn State's favor, it looked like the Nittany Lions might creep even closer when two Clarkson penalties gave Penn State a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:23. However, the Clarkson defense held strong and killed the penalty, stopping Penn State's momentum and going on the close out the victory.

Clarkson held a 43-15 advantage in shots. The Green and Gold converted on two of their 12 man advantage opportunities while shutting down six of Penn State's seven power-plays. Shea Tiley had 13 saves for Clarkson while Hannah Ehresmann made 39 stops for Penn State.

The two teams will meet once again on Saturday with the game starting at 3:00 pm in Cheel Arena.