With two goals by both co-captain Cayley Mercer and Loren Gabel, the third-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team defeated Rensselaer 4-2 on Friday night to earn the 300th win in program history.

Clarkson is now 19-4-4 overall this season and 13-1-1 in conference while Rensselaer falls to 9-16-2 overall and 6-8-1 in ECAC Hockey.

"I thought we came out with good energy tonight and did a good job continuing to battle throughout the game to get the win," stated Head Coach Matt Desrosiers. "There were a few momentum shifts during the game that I thought we handled well, which should be good experience for us heading into the final few weeks. We need to make sure we carry that same energy into tomorrow's game as well"

After a scoreless first period, the two teams heated up in the middle frame. Clarkson broke out with two goals in a two-minute span. First, Gabel scored at 10:01 to start the scoring. Cassidy Vinkle and co-captain Savannah Harmon had assists on the goal. 1:59 later, Clarkson added a second goal with Mercer scoring on a power-play with assistant captain Genevieve Bannon and Michaela Pejzlova adding assists.

However, Rensselaer bounced back with goals at 15:04 and 17:43 to tie the game at two. Lindsey Hylwa scored her first goal of the season for the Engineers before Blake Orosz netted to tie the game.

With the clock counting down in the second period, it looked like the two teams would head into the final frame all knotted at 2. With just 13 seconds remaining though, Gabel grabbed her second goal of the game to give Clarkson the slimmest of edges. Rhyen McGill and Emma Keenan had the helpers on Gabel's second tally.

In the third period, Clarkson's defense clamped down and limited Rensselaer's scoring opportunities, allowing just five Engineer shots in the final 20 minutes. The Golden Knights gave themselves some breathing room at 10:10 when Mercer scored her second goal, with Bannon and Corie Jacobson assisting her.

Clarkson finished with a 41-22 advantage in shots. The Green and Gold went 1-5 on power-plays and killed all four Rensselaer extra-man opportunities. Shea Tiley finished with 20 saves for Clarkson while Lovisa Selander had 37 stops for the Engineers.

Clarkson will try to keep its momentum going against Union in a 3:00 pm game on Saturday.