Team Notes: Raiders Travel to St. Lawrence and Clarkson

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate women's hockey team will attempt to repeat last week's performance when it hits the road for two ECAC Hockey matchups this weekend. The Raiders will first travel to Canton, N.Y. to face St. Lawrence on Friday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. before playing Clarkson on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. in Potsdam, N.Y. 

Colgate (9-16-2, 6-9-1 ECAC) is coming off a 2-0 weekend with two shutout wins. The team first defeated Rensselaer 2-0 on Friday and then went on to defeat Union 1-0 on Saturday. JuniorAmanda Kirwan scored the game-winning goal on Friday while classmate Kristi-Lyn Pollock had the game-winner against Union. Sophomores Jenna Klynstra and Brittany Phillips registered two points each in the Rensselaer game. 

JUNIORS LEAD THE WAY
Last weekend was all about the juniors showing leadership. Junior Kimberly Sass led the Raiders, making a total of 38 saves this past weekend while registering back-to-back shutout wins. Sass now has five career shutouts and four this season. Classmates Pollock and Kirwan scored a game-winning goal each with Pollock scoring the game-winner against Rensselaer and Kirwan scoring the lone goal against Union. 

POINT LEADERS
Phillips, who has led the team all season, has a team-high 28 points from 11 goals and 17 assists. She is followed by classmate Klynstra who has 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points and by senior Jessi Waters who sits at third with 17 points off two goals and 15 assists. 

ECAC HOCKEY PLAY
Colgate is currently sitting in ninth place in the league standings above Yale, Brown and Union with 13 points. The team has wins against Quinnipiac, Princeton, Clarkson, Rensselaer and Union twice, while suffering losses to Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard, Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence, Yale, Rensselaer and No. 2 Cornell. Its only tie was with Brown on Jan. 7. 

Including this weekend's games, the Raiders have only six games left in the season to secure a spot as one of the top-eight teams in the league and advance to the ECAC Hockey Playoffs that will take place at the end of this month. 

THE SERIES
St. Lawrence leads the all-time series with the Raiders, owning a 15-6-2 record. Since the teams first met in the 1999-00 season, Colgate has played the Saints 14 times on the road and has a 3-11 away record. The teams already met earlier this season in Starr Rink, with St. Lawrence winning that matchup 5-3 on Dec. 4. The Raiders' last win on the road was a 3-0 shutout win in the 2005-06 season. 

The series between Colgate and Clarkson is tied at 6-6-3 after the Raiders won the last meeting earlier this season 5-2 on Dec. 3 in Starr Rink. Since the teams first met in the 2003-04 season, Colgate has played the Golden Knights seven times on the road, owning a 2-4-1 away record. The Raiders' last road win was in the 2004-05 season when they defeated Clarkson 3-1.

SCOUTING ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints (12-13-2, 7-8-0 ECAC) are coming off a 4-0 loss to Princeton and a 4-2 setback to No. 10 Quinnipiac last weekend. The team, which was picked to finish fifth in the ECAC preseason poll, already has wins over Union, Yale and Brown twice, Colgate and Dartmouth and has losses to RPI, Clarkson, Cornell, Quinnipiac, Princeton and Harvard.

Currently holding the eighth spot in the league standings with 14 points, just one more point than the Raiders, St. Lawrence is led by sophomore Kelly Sabatine, junior Vanessa Emond and sophomore Brooke Fernandez. Sabatine leads the team with 25 points from 13 goals and 12 assists, while Emond has nine goals and nine assists and Fernandez has five goals and 13 assists, both for 18 points each. 

SCOUTING CLARKSON
The Golden Knights (11-13-3, 8-6-1 ECAC) are on a four-game winning streak, coming off a 2-0 weekend with wins over Quinnipiac and Princeton. The team, which was picked to finish second in the preseason poll, has wins over Union, RPI, St. Lawrence, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Quinnipiac and Princeton, and has losses to Yale, Colgate, Cornell, Princeton, Quinnipiac and Harvard. It's only tie was with Brown on Nov. 19. 

Clarkson, which is currently tied at fifth with Princeton in the league standings with 17 points each, is led by senior Melissa Waldie, junior Juana Baribeau and freshman Jamie-Lee Rattray. Waldie leads the team with 20 points from 13 goals and seven assists while Baribeau has six goals and nine assists and Rattray has three goals and 12 assists, both for 15 points apiece. 

ECAC PRESEASON POLL
The Raiders were picked to finish ninth in the ECAC preseason poll that was released on Sept. 16. The defending regular-season and tournament champion Cornell, was picked to finish first with a total of 121 points and 11 first-place votes. Following the Big Red were Clarkson (105, one first-place vote), Harvard (103), Quinnipiac (79), St. Lawrence (77), and Princeton (73), with Rensselaer (70) and Dartmouth (52) rounding off the top eight spots. Colgate (43) along with Yale (34), Brown (24) and Union (11) were the four teams picked to miss out on this season's tournament.