BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Genevieve Lavoie had a goal and two assists to lead Clarkson to a 5-1 win over Vermont in women's college hockey Saturday afternoon at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts fall to 4-12-1 with the defeat while the Golden Knights, who received votes in both national polls last week, improved to 13-4-2.
"Clarkson is a real good team and came in with some impressive wins," said Vermont head coach Tim Bothwell. "We did a lot of good things today and played them even up for 50 minutes or so. Our forechecking was good and we had an excellent second period taking back control of the game. As well as we did play, they took advantage of a few mistakes we made to score goals. We need a little more focus and determination for the entire game especially at the start of the third period."
The Golden Knights took advantage of a pair of UVM turnovers to jump out to a 2-0 first period lead. Marie-Jo Gaudet, on an assist from Lavoie, opened the scoring at 10:30 and Britney Selina scored on a breakaway just under three minutes later.
After being outshot 10-4 in the opening stanza, Vermont came out with a strong effort in the second and cashed in on a Clarkson penalty to cut its deficit in half. Teddy Fortin (Brunswick, Maine) rapped home a rebound at 7:27 for her third goal of the season on assists from Celeste Doucet (Memramcook, New Brunswick) and Sarah Smiddy (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Vermont kept up its steady pressure throughout the period finishing with a 10-4 edge in shots.
Clarkson came out in the third as Lavoie, on assists from Gaudet and Amanda Dittmer, made it 4-1 at 11:20. The Catamounts bounced back with good chances from Brittany Nelson (Shelburne, Vt.) and Chelsea Furlani (Colchester, Vt.) but cut not come any closer. The Golden Knights' Melissa Waldie scored on the power play with 38 seconds remaining to wrap up the scoring.
The Catamounts went 1-for-2 on the power play against the least penalized team in the nation while Clarkson converted one of its four opportunities. It is the third straight game UVM has scored a power play goal after going 10 contests without one.
The Golden Knights finished with a 27-21 advantage in shots on goal. Kristen Olychuck (Kelowna, B.C,) made 22 saves for Vermont while Eve Grandmont-Berube had 20 for Clarkson.
The Catamounts continue their four-game homestand hosting Clarkson again at Gutterson Fieldhouse Sunday at 2:00pm. For ticket information, please contact the UVM Athletic Ticket Office at 1-866-4CAT-TIX or log on to uvmathletics.com. UVM students (with a valid ID) and all Rally's Round Up members are admitted free to all home women's hockey games.
Sunday's game will be broadcast on the radio on WVMT AM-620 and on the internet at www.uvmathletics.com with the audio stream provided by sportsjuice.com. Live video of all Vermont home games is available on the web via the B2 Networks also on www.uvmathletics.com.