Sophomore Rylee Smith scored her 11th goal of the season on the power play with only 3:40 left in regulation and added two assists, lifting the St. Lawrence women's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Clarkson University at Appleton Arena on Friday night.

The win, which moves the Saints to 14-7-3 (8-4-1) on the year, is the eighth consecutive victory for the Scarlet and Brown and third straight against the Golden Knights. Meanwhile, Clarkson falls to 14-7-4 (8-4-1) despite outshooting their opponents 34-31.

"I thought it was a great game between two very evenly-matched teams," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells. "We've been able to come up with big plays in key moments, and our special teams were key with a short-handed and a power play goal in the third."

Though the two teams skated to a scoreless first period, the 20:00 minutes were full of action including three shots that hit the post in a one minute span. Clarkson's Jamie Lee Rattray and Katelyn Ptolemy hit back-to-back posts followed by a bid from St. Lawrence senior Alley Bero.

Clarkson, which held an 11-7 edge in shots in the first, finally cracked St. Lawrence rookie goaltender Carmen MacDonald at 6:30 of the second period, when Shelby Nisbet lifted a shot glove-side for her third of the season. Carly Mercer earned her 17th helper of the year on the goal that gave the Knights their only lead of the evening, 1-0.

Junior defenseman Brooke Fernandez would help St. Lawrence even the score at 1-1 at 14:45, as the Bloomfield, CT native snapped a one-timer past Clarkson's Erica Howe for her ninth goal of the year. Classmate Kelly Sabatine and Smith assisted on the goal that set up an exciting third period.

Clarkson appeared to have the edge midway through the third as they skated on a power play. However, Smith sent an outlet pass up the near boards to Sabatine who skated into the Clarkson zone one-on-one with a defender. The Hamilton, ON native was able to get off a shot across her body, which fooled Howe and beat her inside the far post for a short-handed goal and a 2-1 St. Lawrence lead at the 11:00 mark. Senior assistant captain Josee Belanger also assisted on the goal.

Clarkson would waste little time in rebounding, however, and tied the game 2-2 on the same power play. Danielle Skirrow re-directed a centering pass from Rattray past MacDonald at 12:01 to square the game heading into the final minutes.

A two minute penalty on Kali Gillangers with 5:10 remaining gave St. Lawrence an opportunity on the power play against the nation's top-ranked penalty kill unit. After forcing Howe to make a few nice saves, Fernandez laced a slap shot that bounced off of the goaltender's pad directly to Smith inside the right circle. The Hagersville, ON native quickly fired the puck into the net to give her team the lead for good, 3-2.

MacDonald, who was solid throughout the game, made a few stops in the final minutes, but St. Lawrence did an excellent job of keeping the puck in the Clarkson end of the ice. Junior Michelle Ng's key faceoff win with only six seconds left allowed St. Lawrence to celebrate the one-goal win.

MacDonald closed with 32 saves to Howe's 28, and each team finished with a power play goal (CU 1-for-5, SLU 1-for-6).

The two teams will square off again tomorrow, Saturday, January 21st at Cheel Arena in Potsdam, NY. The puck is set to drop at 3:00pm.