A second-period onslaught propelled the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team to a 4-0 win over visiting Cornell on Saturday afternoon in Cheel Arena.

Clarkson improves to 15-3-2 overall and 3-3-2 in ECAC Hockey games while Cornell is now 6-6-2 overall and 2-3-2 in league games. The Green and Gold have now bounced back with a win after all three of their losses this season.

"Tonight was a great bounce back effort from the team. We made a couple changes to the lines and got a great response. The biggest difference intonight's game was the energy we played with and the desire to win. We did a great job with the little things and focusing on keeping things simple. When we do that we play within ourselves and play the style of game we need to in order to be successful. It is going to be important for us to carry that game and the energy we had over into the new year. If we can do that we should see some positive results."

The two teams were scoreless after 20 minutes of play, but that changed in the second period. First, junior Genevieve Bannon sent a pass to freshman Loren Gabel, who skated in on a breakaway, with the first-year forward scoring to give Clarkson a 1-0 lead 4:13 into the period. At the 7:07 mark, the Golden Knights doubled their lead. Junior assistant captain Cayley Mercer stole an errant Cornell pass in her own defensive end and drove forwards into the Big Red zone. She passed ahead to senior assistant captain Olivia Howe who dropped it back to Mercer with Mercer finishing the move on wrist shot that found net.

Mercer doubled her goal tally at the 10:44 mark of the middle period. Senior assistant captain Erin Ambrose took a shot from the blueline that went all the way to the boards behind the goal. Freshman Kelly Mariani was first to the puck and wrapped around the net. Mariani passed to Mercer who was positioned in the crease and Mercer buried her shot into the goal.

Claekson added a goal at 11:37 in the third period. On a power-play, Gabel lined up a shot from the top and the puck was deflected by her classmate Rhyen McGill past the Cornell goaltender.

Clarkson finished with a commanding 37-14 advantage in shots. The Golden Knights scored on one of their five power-plays and successfully killed both of Cornell's extra man opportunities. Sophomore goaltender Shea Tiley made 14 saves in her sixth shutout of the year and 15th of her career. Paula Voorheis made 33 stops for Cornell. The win snaps a three game home losing streak for Clarkson against the Big Red.

Clarkson will have a break until January 8th and 9th when the Green and Gold will travel to Yale and Brown for games.