Clarkson delivers key win over SLU

POTSDAM — For the second time in four days Clarkson University beat St. Lawrence University 4-1 in a hockey game at Cheel Arena.

Tuesday night, after the men's victory on Saturday, it was the Clarkson women's team's turn to beat its Route 11 rival in the ECAC Hockey opener for both teams.

The games were eerily similar in more than just the final score.

In both games Clarkson scored the first goal only to see SLU even the score. And both times Clarkson responded quickly with a second goal.

On Tuesday, sophomore Kalie Gillanders scored her first goal of the season just 17 seconds after SLU's Michelle Ng had tied the game 1-1 in the second period.

"It shut SLU down and made our confidence go up," Gillanders said of her goal. "It was nice to score my first goal this year versus SLU also."

For the first time in the seven year history of the program the Clarkson women entered a game with St. Lawrence as the higher-ranked team.

Clarkson (7-1-1 overall) is the No. 3 team in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll and SLU (2-2-3) is No. 7.

"It's been a wild run," said Clarkson senior captain Britney Selina. "My first year here was kind of tough, but we were always a hard-working, grinding team. Over the years we got more and more talent. Now it's all coming together.

"We've always been the underdog when it came to SLU. We had a confidence that we were going to come into this game and really take it to them."

Clarkson's Matt Desrosiers, who co-coaches the team with his wife Shannon, knew Tuesday's game would be a test of how well his squad handled some early season notoriety.

"We've been preaching to them to be confident, but don't be cocky," Desrosiers said. "I think they are staying pretty level-headed about themselves. We're basically starting a new season right now with our league play starting up. Everything we did prior with the out-of-conference was great, but it all leads up to conference play."

Clarkson scored first Tuesday when sophomore Gabrielle Kosziwka took a shot from the circle that went over the glove of Saints goalie Brittony Chartier at 12 minutes, 54 seconds of the opening period.

It kept a streak alive for the Golden Knights, who have scored first in every game this season.

"I think it's huge," said Clarkson's Dominique Thibault. "It gives us a big boost. It's easier to play when you are ahead than behind. You make smarter decisions and you don't panic as much."

SLU evened the score with Ng's goal at 2:12 of the second period, but Gillander's game-winner came 17 seconds later.

With Clarkson clinging to a one-goal lead late in the game Saints coach Chris Wells pulled Chartier for an extra attacker with 3:45 remaining.

But Thibault, a senior who transferred from the University of Connecticut, made the Saints pay with an empty-net goal at 16:48. She scored another empty-net goal a minute later, while Clarkson was shorthanded, to end the scoring.

"I was thinking defensively first," Thibault said of the empty-net situation.

Clarkson outshot the Saints 27-18 and impressed Wells.

"Anybody who was wondering if Clarkson's the real deal, I think they saw tonight that Clarkson's the real deal and people better start paying attention," Wells said. "Every line is tough. They have great depth. That was one of our focuses coming in. It's tough to focus on one line, because you get zinged by the other three. Two goals came from lines that weren't doing a lot of scoring. That's how complete a team this is."

nNOTES:Clarkson is now 3-2-1 against SLU in Cheel Arena but is 0-8-1 against the Saints in Appleton Arena. ... Clarkson has outscored the opposition 15-0 in the first period this season. ... SLU has not led a game after two periods yet this season. ... The Saints were missing two players — forwardKirsten Roachand defensemanMichelle Zimmerman— with injuries.

VOLLEYBALL

JAMESTOWN CC 3, JEFFERSON CC 1

Jefferson Community College ended its season with a 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-14 loss at Jamestown CC.

Dana Stenhow and Abby Miller each had 11 kills for the Cannoneers (17-15).

CLARKSON 3, SUNY POTSDAM 0

Sara Artus had 17 kills to lead the Golden Knights (25-5) to a 25-17, 25-17, 25-15 sweep of SUNY Potsdam in a nonconference match at Clarkson.

MacKenzie Cook added 10 kills for Clarkson. Allison Pepe led SUNY Potsdam (6-26) with seven kills.

SOCCER

JCC WINS HONORS, LOSES

Dave Bowhall, the Jefferson Community College women's soccer coach, has been named the 2009 Mid-State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

In addition to Bowhall's honor, four of his players — Elysa Doldo, Ashley Phillips, Nikkia Raso and Sarah Ward — were named to the All Conference team.

The Cannoneers, though, saw their season end Tuesday afternoon with a 5-3 Region 3 quarterfinal loss to Mohawk Valley CC. JCC finished the year with an 11-5-1 record.

Kyle Horton was named to the All Conference team on the men's side.