by David F. Pendrys (eyewitness report checked against and augmented by the box score.)

BOSTON, MA- #4 Clarkson put their undefeated record on the line at Walter Brown Arena Saturday afternoon, but #9 Boston University fell to the Golden Knights 4-1 in a rough game. Erin O’Neil started in net for the Terriers and her opposite was Shea Tiley of CU.

BU successfully killed off the first of their many penalties about halfway through the first period. Later they would celebrate a goal, only to have it waved off. There was a major scrum in the net before the initial ruling was the puck went in. After vigorous protest from Clarkson the refs reviewed it and overturned it.

Late in the period Clarkson broke in on net, Cayley Mercer shot it from O’Neil’s left and she saved it, but the rebound went to Olivia Howe on the right side who put it in at 15:54. BU fended off another penalty called a minute later which did not help regaining the momentum.

The period ended with Clarkson managing 14 shots to BU’s 7 and the Golden Knights with the lead.

In period 2, BU went on the penalty kill again just a few minutes in but survived. Clarkson’s first penalty was called at 5:12 but BU was unable to capitalize especially when they were called for a penalty a minute into it.

Later, In a worse case scenario, a delayed penalty was signaled on BU. Clarkson put an extra attacker out there, and while swarming, Howe knocked it from the right side across the goalmouth and into the left corner of the net. Assists went to Kelly Mariani and Mercer at 9:43 and BU now had a penalty to kill off as well. The Terriers succeeded in that effort.

Late in the second BU got on the board thanks to Sammy Davis at 18:34 assisted by Dakota Woodworth. Soon the period would wrap up with Clarkson leading on shots 25 to 11, and of course with the 2 to 1 lead.

In period 3 the teams went at it, but at 6:30 Genevieve Bannon got it past O’Neil. Nonetheless Clarkson was up 3-1. The assist went to Savannah Harmon.

BU went on the power play at 7:10 but nothing came of it. The last penalties of the game were offsetting putting the teams at 4 on 4 but goals did not follow despite the opened up play.

Boston U pulled the goalie with over 3 minutes left given the goal deficit, but Bannon dropped the dagger sliding the puck into the empty net from the middle of the ice, assisted by Loren Gabel and Shannon MacAulay at 18:21.

With the win Clarkson rises to 7-0, and BU drops to 3-3.

On the day, Tiley had 22 saves on 23 shots and is 6-0 on the year. O’Neil put up 37 saves on 40 shots and is 1-1 on the season.

For Clarkson, Harmon led the team in shots with 8, Howe and Mercer had 5, and Amanda Titus 4. For BU, Rebecca Leslie had 5 shots, and Maddie Elia 4 to lead Terrier shooters.

Clarkson had 18 blocked shots, and BU 16. Harmon and Renata Fast each had 4 blocks for the Golden Knights, and MacAulay 3. Sarah Steele had 4 for BU, and Connor Galway 3.

BU won 33 of 60 faceoffs, Victoria Bach won 13 of 23, Maddie Elia won 10 of 18. Clarkson naturally won 27 of 60, Mercer won 11 of 5.

Other notes from various points in the game: (A non-exhaustive list of observations from the game.)

Both Teams:

• CU’s MacAulay persisted to get in to the zone early but BU’s Sarah Lefort stopped it.
• CU’s Loren Gabel had a steal deep in the BU end, but O’Neil saved it.
• Woodworth skated in but was stopped by Clarkson’s Corie Jacobson.

Clarkson:

• During the penalty on Renata Fast of Clarkson, Bannon cleared it.
• Clarkson’s Amanda Titus fed Rhyen McGill in front of the net but O’Neil stopped it.

Boston University:

• BU’s Diana Bennett broke up Clarkson going behind the net to set something up.
• On the Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga of BU penalty (the first of the game), Bach disrupted the Clarkson efforts, Lefort cleared it, Kayla Tutino went into the enemy zone and messed with their attempts to move it out.
• Alexis Crossley broke up a centering pass. Also, Ribeirinha-Braga whapped a centering pass out of the way of the front of the net.
• On the penalty on BU’s Elia late in the 1st, after an onslaught of Clarkson shots, Rebecca Russo cleared the puck.
• O’Neil faced plenty of credible Clarkson shots and dispatched them.
• Ribeirinha-Braga had a quality shot, but was thwarted by the keeper.
• After an O’Neil save, Woodworth cleared it.
• On the penalty to BU’s Bennett (the delayed one which followed the Clarkson goal), Alexis Crossley broke up a pass and cleared it.
• Lefort fed a sweeping Tutino for a scoring chance.
• Bach had a shot but Tiley stopped it.
• Sarah Steele had a big shot from the point but nothing came of it.
• Sammy Davis broke in but save by Tiley.
• Rebecca Leslie had a chance in the zone. She later intercepted a Clarkson pass from behind the BU net and cleared it.
• Bach drove but was stopped by Tiley as was Leslie.
• Davis had a two on one, but the shot went wide.