In her first career start, junior goaltender McKenzie Johnson finished with a shutout as the fifth-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team defeated visiting Vermont 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in Cheel Arena.

Clarkson is now a perfect 5-0-0 on the season while Vermont falls to 0-4-0. The 5-0-0 start for the Golden Knights matches the starts of the 2012-13 and 2013-14 teams for the best start in eighth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers tenure. The Knights also blanked the Catamounts in Burlington, 5-0, on Friday night.

"Today was another solid effort by the team," said Desrosier. "I thought McKenzie made some nice saves and looked confident throughout the game. Our special teams continued to show improvement which is what we are looking for every game. It was a solid weekend and a total team effort which should allow us to gain confidence heading into an important weekend series against Boston University."

The Green and Gold opened the scoring just 3:27 into the game. On a power-play, senior assistant captain Olivia Howe scored off a pass from junior assistant captain Cayley Mercer. It was the second goal of the year for Howe and the fifth assist for Mercer. Sophomore Savannah Harmon also picked up her sixth helper of the year on the goal.

Clarkson doubled its lead at 13:59 in the first period. Working again on a power-play, freshmen Loren Gabel and Josiane Pozzebon passed the puck between each other near the blue line. Pozzebon lined up a shot from the top and beat the Vermont goaltender for her first collegiate goal, with the score coming just one second after the power-play had expired. Junior Genevieve Bannon also added an assist on the goal.

Clarkson's third goal again came during an extra man opportunity. This time, the Golden Knights scored one second after a 5-on-3 advantage came off the board. The goal came off the stick of Gabel, with Bannon and sophomore Brielle Bellerive getting the assists.

Clarkson held a 34-15 edge in shots. The Golden Knights went 2-4 on power-plays and killed off both man-advantage opportunities for the Catamounts.

Johnson finished with 15 saves in her first career start, while Molly Depew made 31 stops for Vermont.

Clarkson will look to extend its perfect start next weekend when it travels to Boston for a pair of games against Boston University.