In the first two games of 2016, the fifth-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team came out strong, going 2-0 and outscoring its opponents 12-2. However, the competition will get tougher this weekend when Dartmouth and eighth-ranked Harvard travel to Potsdam. The Golden Knights host Dartmouth on Friday in a 7:00 p.m. game at Cheel Arena and then take on Harvard in a 4:00 p.m. contest on Saturday.

Led by eighth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and second-year assistant coaches Britni Smith and Meghan Duggan, the Green and Gold are 17-3-2 overall and 5-3-2 in ECAC Hockey games. Clarkson has vaulted back into the top four of the conference, sitting three points behind Harvard with one game in hand.

It was a weekend full of milestones for Clarkson. Junior assistant captain Cayley Mercer notched five points over the weekend, giving her 101 for her career. She is the tenth Clarkson player to reach the century mark, including her sister Carley Mercer '14 who left Clarkson with 150 points. Senior assistant captain Erin Ambrose also racked up five points in the victories over Yale and Brown, giving her 122 for her career. Ambrose moves ahead of Melissa Waldie '11 and is now alone in fourth-place on the all-time scoring list. She is also fourth all-time in assists with 91.

Two Golden Knights tallied their first collegiate goals last weekend. On Friday in the 5-2 win over Yale, sophomore Katelyn Fournier scored to tie the game at 2, giving Clarkson the momentum to drive it towards a 5-2 win. On Saturday, freshman Cassidy Vinkle scored her first goal to open the scoring against Brown. After it taking 22 games for Vinkle to light the lamp for the first time, she waited just one period to get her second, as her two goals helped Clarkson earn a 7-0 win at Brown. All 19 Clarkson skaters now have at least one career goal.

Although senior assistant captain Olivia Howe did not score any of Clarkson's 12 goals, she had assists in four of them, including tying her career high with three assists against Brown. Howe is now second on the team in points, assists, and tied for second in goals. Her +30 leads the team while her eight assists in conference play is also first on the team. Howe is closing in on joining teammates Mercer and Ambrose in the 100 point club. Howe sits at 89 career points.

Clarkson has won three games in a row coming into the weekend, by a combined score of 16-2. During that span, seven different Clarkson skaters have collected at least one point in all three games while 15 of Clarkson's 19 skaters have either scored a goal or added an assist. Mercer, Ambrose, and Howe are one five-game points streaks with senior captain Shannon MacAulay just behind them with a four-game streak.

For her performances against Yale and Brown, Ambrose was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week. Ambrose had five points in the two games, on three assists against Yale and a pair of goals against Brown. Vinkle was also honored this week, earning a spot on the ECAC Hockey Honor Roll. Vinkle had two goals against Brown, including the game-winner. Vinkle was joined by sophomore goaltender Shea Tiley on the Honor Roll. Tiley made 21 saves in 89:59 of action. She allowed just two goals in that span, both against Yale. It is the fourth time Tiley has made the Honor Roll.

Dartmouth started its season off strong, with a 4-2-2 overall and 4-1-2 conference record. Since then though, the Big Green, who own a 4-11-2 overall record and a 4-5-2 conference mark, have been winless and are on a nine-game losing streak. The Big Green is still in the conference playoff-picture, sitting in a tie for sixth place with 10 points. Dartmouth will have a chance to move up in the standings with games against fourth-placed Clarkson and fifth-placed St. Lawrence this weekend. In order to do so, Dartmouth will need to shore up its defense, which has allowed 4.33 goals per game during the losing streak. It will also need the offensive production of Laura Stacey to continue. Stacey leads the team with 17 points, 14 of them coming in conference games.

Clarkson leads the all-time series between the two teams 15-10-5. Earlier in the season, the two teams skated to a 3-3 draw. Clarkson took a 3-0 lead in the first period of that game, but Dartmouth clawed back to tie the game at 3. That ended an 11 game winning streak for Clarkson against the Big Green, although Dartmouth has not defeated Clarkson in the last 13 matchups. MacAulay and junior Genevieve Bannon have both had success against Dartmouth with 12 and 11 points respectively against Dartmouth.

Harvard has a 10-4-1 overall record this year with a 7-3-1 conference record, putting them in third place. The Crimson closed out 2015 with identical 2-1 overtime losses at Princeton and Quinnipiac, but bounced back with wins over Cornell and Colgate to open 2016.Harvard has moved up to eighth in one national poll and ninth in the other. Harvard's strength has been on the defensive end, where the Crimson has allowed just 1.27 goals per game in conference play, the second best mark. It has killed off a league best 94.1 of opponents' power-plays.

Harvard leads the all-time series against Clarkson 18-9-4. There has been very little separating the two teams in the last few matchups. In October, Clarkson traveled to Harvard and played the Crimson to a 0-0 tie. That followed a 1-0 victory for Clarkson in February of 2015, which allowed Clarkson to finish as co-conference champions with Harvard. Sophomore Brielle Bellerive had the game-winning goal that day, and is one of only five current Clarkson skaters to have scored against Harvard in their career. Macaulay leads the way with five points while Howe has four and Ambrose has three points. Harvard will be the first ranked team Clarkson has played since the Green and Gold defeated Princeton on November 21st. Overall Clarkson is 3-1-2 against ranked opponents.