The hottest team in NCAA Women's Hockey continue its surge as Clarkson University skated to a decisive 5-3 victory over Colgate in a showdown for first place in the ECAC Hockey standings on Saturday afternoon in Hamilton, NY.

Owners of the longest current winning streak in the country at 12 games, the Golden Knights improve to 23-3-1 overall and take over sole possession of first place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 14-2 league mark. The victory over Colgate (23-4-1, 13-3) also avenges as earlier-season loss for the Knights. Clarkson defeated Cornell 4-3 in overtime on Friday.

"We knew going into the weekend that we were going to need to compete hard to come away with two wins and that's exactly what we got," stated Head Coach Matt Desrosiers. "The players did a good job focusing on executing our game plan and limiting our mistakes, which made a difference. I thought the team worked hard to earn four points against two tough teams this weekend. Now we need to continue to build from here and bring another good effort on Tuesday (against Syracuse)."

Junior Loren Gabel (Kitchener, ONT) has been on fire in the New Year and keeps on producing big numbers to help the Clarkson University Women's Hockey team continue its torrid pace. The ECAC's leading scorer, Gabel scored the first and last goals in Saturday's victory at Class of 1965 Arena, to improve her totals on the year to 25 goals and 53 points. The left wing has tallied 18 points and 10 goals in the first six games of 2018.

Gabel opened the scoring, slapping in her own rebound at the side on the net for a power-play tally just 1:54 in. Freshman sensation, right wing Elizabeth Giguere (Quebec City, QUE) notched her 32nd assist and 50th point on the play. Sophomore defenseman Ella Shelton (Ingersoll, ONT) also assisted.

The Raiders came back to tie with their own power-play goal as Olivia Zafuto converted on a wrist shot from the right circle at 13:05.

Giguere put the Knights on top 2-1 early in the second. Junior defenseman Josiane Pozzebon (Bourget, ONT) found a loose puck at the left circle and fed Giguere in the slot where she made a quick turnaround shot that eluded Colgate's goaltender 83 seconds into the period for her 19th goal of the season.

The Raiders responded with their second goal at 3:33 with Megan Sullivan firing a shot from the right circle just into the near corner.

Forty-three seconds later the Green and Gold regained the lead on junior Rhyen McGill's (Whitby, ONT) 12th goal of the season, an unassisted tally off a low shot from the right circle.

Junior Amanda Titus (Stittsville, ONT) intercepted a clearing attempt by the Raider's goaltender and slipped in her eighth goal of the season at 17:49 for the eventual gamewinner to give the Knights a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Colgate got one back with Breanne Wilson-Bennett scoring on the power play 72 second into the third.

Gabel, however, sealed the deal scoring into an empty net with six seconds remaining to clinch the first-place victory, snapping Colgate's 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1).

Clarkson outshot Colgate 30-24. Senior Shea Tiley (Owen Sound, ONT) made 21 saves for her 102nd career victory.

The Knights went 1-of-5 on the power play, while Colgate was 2-of-4 with the man-advantage.