A pair of freshmen scored their first collegiate goals to give the Golden Knights the early lead and sophomore goaltender Emily Horn (Hamilton, ONT) came through with a solid effort in net as the 7th-ranked Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team won its fourth straight by defeating the University of Vermont 5-1 at Cheel Arena on Saturday evening.

Clarkson, which also defeated UVM, 4-1, on Friday, will take its perfect 4-0 record on the road next weekend with a two-game set at 9th-ranked Mercyhurst College to close out the season-opening non-league portion of the schedule.

Making her first career start and only third appearance in the Golden Knights’ net, Horn posted 17 saves, including 12 stops in the second period.

Shannon MacAulay (Mt. Herbert, PEI) and Olivia Howe (Moose Jaw, SASK) scored 35 seconds apart early in the first period to set the momentum in the Green and Gold’s favor. MacAulay finished off a pass from junior Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, ONT) from the bottom of the right circle at 4:24. Howe, who also assisted on the first goal, followed at 4:59 with assists going to freshman defenseman Erin Ambrose (Keswick, ONT) and MacAulay.

The Catamounts, who were outshot 12-4 in the opening stanza, were able to get on the scoreboard when a shot by Brittany Zuback snuck past Horn at 6:45.

Both teams put up 12 shots apiece on the scoreboard in the second period, but it was the Knights who made theirs count. Rattray tallied her team-high fourth goal of the year at 13:44 with classmates Brittany Styner (Calgary, ALB) and Carly Mercer (Exeter, ONT) assisting. Senior Danielle Skirrow (Trenton, ONT) connected for a power-play marker with 15 seconds remaining in the period to give Clarkson a 4-1 advantage after 40 minutes. Junior Vanessa Plante (Riviere-du-Loup, QUE) and Rattray set up the goal.

Junior Shelby Nisbet (Wiseton, SASK) closed out the scoring at 7:04 of the third with her second goal of the season. Styner collected her second assist of the game. Sophomore defenseman Daniella Matteucci (Fruitvale, BC) also assisted.

Clarkson held a 38-18 advantage in shots. The Knights went 1-of-3 on the power play and killed off all three Vermont man-advantage situations.

Kelci Lanthier posted 33 saves for the Catamounts.