For the fourth straight year, the fifth-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team has earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Knights will meet a familiar opponent in the quarterfinals when they travel to Hamden, CT to take on fourth-ranked Quinnipiac.

The Golden Knights and Bobcats will play a NCAA quarterfinal game at High Points Solutions Arena on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The winner will advance to the 2016 Women's Frozen Four which will be hosted by the University of New Hampshire on March 18 and 20, at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire.

Led by eighth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and second-year assistant coaches Britni Smith and Meghan Duggan, the Green and Gold have a 29-4-5 record this season. Clarkson saw its 18 game-unbeaten streak snapped last weekend when it fell to Quinnipiac 1-0 in the ECAC Hockey Championship.

"We're obviously disappointed with the results of the game, but happy to have the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament," stated Head Coach Matt Desrosiers. "We had a good feeling that no matter the outcome of the championship game that we would be facing Quinnipiac again. Both teams are very similar and have played in some tight, exciting games this year so I expect this Saturday to be nothing less then that."

Before falling to Quinnipiac, Clarkson dominated Colgate 5-2 in the ECAC Semifinals. Senior captain Shannon MacAulay tallied a pair of power-play goals against the Raiders. MacAulay is now at 99 career points. MacAulay now has six points in the four postseason games she has played in High Point Solutions Arena, including the game-winning goal in the 2014 NCAA National Championship game. If she is able to add to that point total this weekend, she will become the 12th Clarkson player with 100 career points. MacAulay was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Tournament team for her performances.

Also joining MacAulay on the All-Tournament team was senior assistant captain Erin Ambrose. Ambrose had a goal and two assists in the win over Colgate. Ambrose now has 104 career assists, tying her with Jamie Lee Rattray '14 for the most helpers in Clarkson history. Since the start of February, Ambrose is second in the country in points among defensemen, with 12. She was also tied for first among all players in points in the ECAC Hockey Tournament with seven.

Sophomore goaltender Shea Tiley earned her 50th career victory when the Golden Knights beat Colgate. That puts her in second place all-time on the Clarkson wins list. She is also just the third Clarkson goaltender to win an ECAC Semifinal game after Lauren Dahm '11 in 2010 and Erica Howe '14 in 2014. Tiley is fifth in the country in goals against average (1.36) and tied for fifth in shutouts (8). However, Quinnipiac is the only ECAC Hockey team that Tiley is yet to beat. She has a 0-4-1 record against the Bobcats, but has allowed just 1.82 goals against them.

Coming into the championship game on Sunday, Clarkson had played three postseason games in High Point Solution Arena, had trailed in all three, but came back to win all of them. That streak was finally broken when a late first-period goal for Quinnipiac stood as the game-winner. This weekend's matchup could be decided by who scores first. Clarkson is 20-1-2 when scoring first and 23-0-2 when leading after two periods. The Golden Knights are just 8-4-1 when their opponent scores first, including 0-2-1 against Quinnipiac.

Matchups between Quinnipiac and Clarkson have been a defensive struggle the past few seasons and that was never exemplified more than in the ECAC Championship. The two teams combined for 33 shots, with the 17 for Quinnipiac and the 16 for Clarkson season lows for both teams. In low scoring games, Tiley has been outstanding for Clarkson. She has a 36-4-3 record when allowing either one or zero goals. Tiley does have just a 1-3-0 career record in March, including an 0-1 record in the NCAA Tournament. However, she will be the more experienced postseason goaltender as Sydney Rossman will be making her first career NCAA Tournament start for Quinnipiac.

Clarkson will be trying to follow in the footsteps of the 2013-14 team and reach the Frozen Four. That year Clarkson also lost a 1-0 game in the ECAC Championship. With a win, Clarkson would also join that group as the only teams in program history to reach the 30 win mark.