fter struggling to keep Cornell off the scoreboard on Friday, the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team bounced back with a dominant display, defeating Colgate 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in Cheel Arena.

The sixth-ranked Green and Gold finish 2014 with a 12-6-1 record overall and are 6-2-1 in ECAC Hockey play, which places them in second-place.

"Today was a great bounce back effort and win for us which we needed heading into the break," stated Clarkson Head Coach Matt Desrosier. "We were much more consistent with everything we did today and played pretty close to a full sixty minutes of hard-working hockey. Our special teams had a much better game and were able to keep the momentum in our favor with a couple timely goals and kills. It's nice going into break on a winning note after a pretty good first semester of hockey and results. We'll take this break to recover from any nagging injuries and recharge the batteries so we head into the second half of the season refreshed and ready to compete hard."

Clarkson started the game strong, outshooting Colgate 13-4 in the first period. They would get on the scoreboard at 15:14 when junior assistant captain Erin Ambrose (Keswick, ONT) passed to classmate Cayley Mercer (Exeter, ONT) in front of the net and she put her shot past the Colgate goaltender.

At 14:40 of the middle frame, Clarkson would double its lead. During a man-advantage opportunity, the puck would find its way to Ambrose and her shot from straight on flew past the Colgate goaltender for her fourth goal of the season.

At 3:01 in the 3rd period, Mercer would score her second goal of the game when she was open on the left side of the net during another Clarkson power play. Freshman Savannah Harmon (Downers Grove, IL) and junior assistant captain Renata Fast (Burlington, ONT) were credited with assists on the goal. Colgate would finally get on the scoreboard at 6:56 when Taylor Craig scored after a scramble in front of the Clarkson net.

Mercer would finish her first career hat trick at 16:09. Sophomore Genevieve Bannon (Candiac, QUE) and Ambrose picked up on assists on Mercer's 11th goal of the season. With the assist, Ambrose now stands at 98 career points (24-74) and is just two shy from becoming the ninth member of Clarkson's Century Club.

Junior assistant captain Olivia Howe (Moose Jaw, SASK) finished the scoring when she scored from a tight angle with just 22 seconds remaining. Fast and freshman Brielle Bellerive (North Vancouver, BC) had assists on the goal.

A day after giving up a career-high five goals, freshman goaltender Shea Tiley (Owen Sound, ONT) returned to the form that helped her earn the ECAC Rookie of the Month award two months running. She finished with 12 saves while her Colgate counterpart, Brittney Brooks finished with 25 of her own. Clarkson held a 30-13 advantage in shots and was 2-5 on man-advantage opportunities while killing all three Colgate power plays.

The Golden Knights will take nearly a month off during the winter break and their next game will be a scrimmage against McGill in Cheel Arena on January 3.