For the sixth straight season, the third-ranked Clarkson University Women's Hockey team will host the ECAC Quarterfinals at Cheel Arena. The Golden Knights will take on Rensselaer in the best of three-game series, with the two meeting in the postseason for the first time since the 2013 ECAC Quarterfinals. Clarkson will start the series at 6:00 pm on Friday night, with Saturday's game scheduled for 3:00 pm. If Sunday's winner-take-all contest is necessary, it will start at 3:00 pm as well.

Led by ninth-year head coach Matt Desrosiers and assistant coaches Britni Smith and Tony Maci, Clarkson finished the regular season with a 25-4-5 overall record and won the ECAC Hockey Regular Season title with a 19-1-2 league mark. Clarkson is the number one seed in the conference playoffs for the third time in the past four years.

Clarkson is coming off what may have been its best four game stretch of the season. Clarkson has defeated Top-10 ranked Princeton (3-1), Quinnipiac (1-0), and Cornell (5-4ot) in that stretch, as well as Colgate (5-2), who is just outside the Top 10 in the rankings. Clarkson closed out the league campaign with a 5-2 win at Colgate, with Clarkson scoring five straight goals last Friday in Hamilton, NY, before a wild 5-4 overtime win over Cornell at Lynah Rink in Ithaca on Saturday.

After her 13 game streak with at least a point was ended against Quinnipiac, co-captain Cayley Mercer bounced back with two goals and an assist against both Colgate and Cornell. Mercer led ECAC Hockey in scoring with 42 league points (20-22) and now has 53 points on the season, which is the second-highest single season total in Clarkson history, trailing only Jamie Lee Rattray's 66 points in 2013-14. For her efforts, Mercer was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for the third time this season.

Co-captain Savannah Harmon and assistant captain Genevieve Bannon also reached milestones last weekend. Bannon had a goal and an assist against Colgate, and then two helpers at Cornell to give her 139 career points. She passed Erin Ambrose '16 for fifth all-time at Clarkson. Harmon notched three assists against Cornell, giving her 30 points on the season. She becomes just the second Clarkson defensemen to break the 30 point barrier in a season, with Ambrose doing it twice in her career. She is second nationally in points among defensemen.

Clarkson is currently on a nine-game unbeaten streak, their second longest of the season. In that span, Clarkson is 8-0-1 and have outscored opponents 28-13. That unbeaten streak is the third longest in the nation. Since starting the season just 2-3-1, Clarkson has won 23 of 28 games.

Clarkson goaltender Shea Tiley has been outstanding in February in her career. She has an all-time record of 18-1-1 in the month, including a 5-0-1 record this season. The win against Cornell was the first time that Tiley had ever earned a win when allowing four goals.

After missing four games playing with the Czech Republic National Team, Michaela Pejzlova returned to action with Clarkson. She had a goal and an assist against Colgate and followed it up with a pair of assists against Cornell. Pejzlova now has 29 points, leaving her just one point away from becoming the sixth rookie in Clarkson history to reach 30 points and seven away from the Clarkson rookie record. Pejzlova is fourth in the nation in points per game among rookies while Ella Shelton is 21st with 19 points of her own.

Rensselaer finished in the eighth and final playoff spot with a 7-14-1 record and a 10-22-2 overall ledger. The Engineers finished the season losing seven of eight games, but that one win, a 4-1 decision against Harvard, proved crucial as Rensselaer finished just one point ahead of the Crimson in the standings. In order to stun Clarkson this weekend, Rensselaer will need to improve its road performances as it is just 3-10-2 there this season. Rensselaer will also hope its offense picks up. The Engineers have scored just 59 goals all season and only 39 in conference play. Clarkson has scored 39 conference goals in the third period alone. Laura Horwood leads Rensselaer with 18 points while eight Clarkson skaters have at least 19.

Clarkson has historically dominated the Engineers, with an all-time record of 19-5-2 against them and have won the last three meetings, including an 8-3 home win this season. Clarkson jumped out to a 3-0 lead in that win and never looked back, as seven different skaters scored for the Green and Gold. Mercer, Bannon, and Harmon have all been strong performers against Rensselaer. Mercer has 13 points in eight games while Bannon has nine in the same amount of games. Harmon has seven points in six games and Rhyen McGill has six assists in just four career matchups. Tiley has a 5-1-0 career record against Rensselaer.