Potsdam, NY – Junior Loren Gabel scored the fastest hat trick in Clarkson University Women's Hockey history, notching six total points on three goals and three assists in the Golden Knights overwhelming 10-1 victory against Yale University in the first game of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals Friday afternoon at Cheel Arena.

The second-ranked Golden Knights improved to 30-4-1 overall, their third straight 30-win season and fourth in the past five campaigns. Yale dropped to 10-16-4. The two teams will face off again at 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon.

"It was great to get playoffs started off by playing some inspiring hockey," stated Head Coach Matt Desrosiers. "We had a good week of practice and felt good heading into today's game, but definitely didn't expect the outcome we got. I thought we played a very complete game and had a total team effort. Our work ethic was great, we played together as a team, and most importantly, we had fun."

Gabel showed why she, along with teammates Savannah Harmon and Shea Tiley, made the list of 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, setting a number of new Clarkson single-game, single-season, and career standards on Friday afternoon. Her natural hat trick was completed just 4:12 into the first period, with her three goals being separated by only 2:21, the fastest in Clarkson history (Cassidy Vinkle owned the previous marks with a hat trick in the first 7:05 against Brown last year, with her three goals coming in a stretch of 5:07). It was Gabel's fourth career hat trick, surpassing the previous record of three by Genevieve Lavoie, and her first score of the game gave her 30 goals on the season, passing Jamie Lee Rattray's previous mark of 29 in 2013-14. On Clarkson's ninth goal of the game, Gabel recorded her third assist of the contest, which was her sixth point of the game, increasing her season point total to 67, one more than Rattray's figure in 2013-14.

Despite a lot of pressure from Yale in the opening minute, the Golden Knights took little time getting on the scoreboard, scoring on the power play just 1:51 into the game. Shortly after the second faceoff of the power play, Gabel picked up the puck along the right side boards off an errant pass. She then simply skated around to the point and, finding no defenders around her, took two more strides before firing a shot into the net, setting the single-season record for goals at Clarkson in the process.

The elation from the first goal had barely died down when Gabel struck again just 35 seconds later. Josiane Pozzebon gained control of the puck in the Clarkson end and sent a seemingly harmless pass to Gabel just 20 feet away. Gabel then took care of the rest, skating down the ice and splitting two defenders before wristing a shot over the right side of Yale goaltender Gianna Meloni at 2:26.

Gabel completed her natural hat trick at 4:12, only 30 seconds into Clarkson's second power-play chance. Rhyen McGill collected the puck near the blue line and sent a short pass to Michaela Pejzlova, who carried the puck into the zone. Pejzlova then tipped a short pass over to Gabel, who once again split a pair of defenders and went glove side on Meloni.

That was the end of the day for Meloni, but Clarkson added a fourth first-period goal 11 minutes later on her replacement, Tera Hofmann. Freshman Avery Mitchell knocked the puck away from a Yale player along the boards near the Clarkson bench and Josiane Pozzebon picked up the loose puck in the far corner. Pozzebon carried the puck up ice into the Yale end, and dropped a pass back to Amanda Titus, who then skated in three more steps where she sent a wrist shot over Hofmann at 15:37.

Yale finally answered with some offense of its own late in the first period. Greta Skarzynski dug out the puck in the Clarkson end and passed it back along the boards to Kaitlin Gately. She then tipped the puck back a few more feet to Grace Wilkens, who came off the boards and sent a shot through some Clarkson traffic. Clarkson goaltender Shea Tiley likely never saw the shot through the screens as it went underneath her left pad at 16:41.

Clarkson continued to thoroughly dominate the Bulldogs in the second period with a 15-4 shot advantage, but the Knights' offensive output was reduced to two goals in the frame as the Yale defense briefly stabilized. Clarkson added its fifth score of the game at 7:37 as freshman Elizabeth Giguere recorded her 25th goal of the season. Gabel started the play by tipping a pass out of the air down to her own stick in the Clarkson defensive end. After a few strides got her out of the zone, Gabel sent a pass to Giguere, who was stationed near the opposite blue line. Giguere then skated in for a one-on-one with Hofmann and deked her out by going to the low glove side.

Less than three minutes later, the Knights picked up their sixth goal as Michaela Pejzlova got in on the action. Gabel controlled the puck behind the net and sent a pass to Giguere in front, where the freshman tried to backhand a shot past Hofmann, but it was deflected. Fortunately, for the Knights, the puck bounced almost directly to Pejzlova on the opposite side of the net where the sophomore knocked in the puck at 10:28 for her 21st goal of the campaign.

The Zamboni was barely off the ice when Clarkson continued its scoring barrage in the third period. Just 42 seconds ticked off the clock before the Knights scored when Ella Shelton added her name to the score sheet. Both Amanda Titus and Lauren Lefler touched the puck back and forth in a four-player scrum near the left circle before the puck squeaked out to Shelton, who calmly wristed a shot past Hufmann.

Six minutes later, the Knights were back at it as Shelton notched her second goal of the period. Giguere picked up the puck and passed it over to Savannah Harmon, who skated in close to the goal but instead sent a backhand pass to Shelton who was alone in the slot to make it 8-1 at 6:54.

Penalties forced the two teams to skate four-on-four a few minutes later, and the Knights continued to rack up points. Gabel stole the puck at the blue line and slapped a pass over to Pejzlova, who finished the play at 8:45 to make it 9-1. Ten scoreless minutes passed with Yale on its third goaltender (Kyra O'Brien) before senior Katelyn Fournier capped things off with a tremendous individual effort. Fournier captured the puck near her own blue line and weaved around several Yale defenders all the way to the Bulldogs end, where she finished off the play in the slot with a wrist shot at 19:23, her first goal of the season.

Clarkson finished with a 38-22 advantage in shots and went 2-for-4 on the power play while the Bulldogs were scoreless in their two extra-skater chances. Shea Tiley turned aside 21 shots for the win. For Yale, Meloni made a single save in four-plus minutes and Hofmann denied 23 shots in 44 minutes. Kyra O'Brien made four saves over the final 11:15.