No. 8/7 QU Women's Ice Hockey Travels to No. 4/4 Clarkson and St. Lawrence This Weekend

Friday, November 20

Potsdam, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Clarkson University

No. 8/7 QU Women's Ice Hockey Travels to No. 4/4 Clarkson and St. Lawrence This Weekend

11/18/2015 1:46:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: QU Sports Information

No. 8/7 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (7-1-3, 3-1-2 ECAC Hockey) at
No. 4/4 Clarkson University Golden Knights (13-1-2, 1-1-2 ECAC Hockey)
Date: Friday, Nov. 20, 2015
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Cheel Arena (Potsdam, N.Y.)
All-Time Series vs. Clarkson: 8-18-3
Last Meeting: W, 1-0 (2/13/15; Potsdam, N.Y.)

No. 8/7 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (7-1-3, 3-1-2 ECAC Hockey) at
No. St. Lawrence University Saints (6-6-1, 3-1-0 ECAC Hockey)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: Appleton Arena (Canton, N.Y.)
All-Time Series vs. Harvard: 8-13-4
Last Meeting: L, 3-0 (2/14/15; Canton, N.Y.)

Follow The Bobcats
Live Stats at Clarkson (11/20): http://www.sidearmstats.com/clarkson/whockey/?
Live Video at Clarkson (11/20): Clarkson Live Video
Live Stats at St. Lawrence (11/21): http://sidearmstats.com/stlawu/whockey/?
Live Video at St. Lawrence (11/21): St. Lawrence Hockey Broadcasts

Game Notes
Quinnipiac | Clarkson | St. Lawrence

On The Road Again
The nationally-ranked No. 8/7 Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team returns to action with another road ECAC Hockey weekend as they travel to the nationally-ranked No. 4/4 Clarkson Golden Knights on Friday, Nov. 20 at Cheel Arena with puck drop set for 7 P.M. before taking on the St. Lawrence Saints on Saturday, Nov. 21 at Appleton Arena with a matinee puck drop at 3 P.M.

All-Time Against Clarkson
Overall, the Bobcats come into this weekend's matchup with the Golden Knights with an 8-18-3 record all-time. Last season, the Bobcats were a perfect 3-0-0 against the Golden Knights to pick up their first ever three game winning streak against Clarkson. The Bobcats faced the Golden Knights in their regular conference games, winning each contest 1-0 and also knocked off the Golden Knights in the Nutmeg Classic Championship game, winning 3-1 to claim their fifth Nutmeg Classic Championship. Quinnipiac's win on Nov. 21 was their first against Clarkson since Feb. 26, 2012 when they Bobcats won game three of their ECAC Quarterfinal series. Emma Woods and Morgan Fritz-Ward each recorded three points in the three matchups, with Woods netting a pair of game-winning goals and adding an assist while Fritz-Ward scored a goal and assisted two more. Cydney Roesler scored a goal and recorded an assist while Taylar Cianfarano netted the Bobcats other goal against Clarkson.

Scouting the Golden Knights
The nationally-ranked No. 4/4 Clarkson Golden Knights come into this weekend with one of the best records in the country at 13-1-2, trailing only nationally-ranked No. 2/2 Boston College (14) in the wins column. Despite a 13-1-2 record, Clarkson sits in seventh place early in the ECAC Hockey schedule with a 1-1-2 record. Earlier this season, the Golden Knights won a pair of games against then-ranked Boston University and have also skated to a 0-0 tie against ranked conference foe Harvard in their ECAC Hockey opener. Cayley Mercer has been on an offensive tear to open up the season as she leads the team with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points. Mercer ranks fourth in the country in goals and sixth in assists while leading the conference in all three statistical categories. Olivia Howe (7-11-18) and Genevieve Bannon (4-12-16) rank second and third in the conference in points as well as on their team, as Bannon is tied for the team and conference lead with Mercer in tallying 12 points. Six different players have recorded at least 10 points this season and five different players have netted at least five goals. Savannah Harmon (4-10-14) leads the Golden Knights' defensive corps in all three statistical categories with a strong sophomore season. Goaltender Shea Tiley continues to anchor the Golden Knights with an 11-1-2 record in 14 games, good for a 1.20 GAA and .941 save percentage. Tiley has stopped 270 of the 287 shots she has faced. Special teams continues to be a strength of the Golden Knights as they are 23.4 percent (11 for 47) on the power play while the penalty kill has also been strong at 89.5 percent (51 for 57).

All-Time Against St. Lawrence
After losing the first eight matchups between the Bobcats and Saints from Nov. 18, 2005 to Feb. 13, 2009, the Bobcats have gone 8-5-4 since then for a winning percentage of .667. In the last two seasons, the Bobcats and Saints are 2-2-2 against each other. Last season, Quinnipiac went 0-1-1 against St. Lawrence with a 2-2 tie in Hamden on Nov. 22 and a loss in Canton, New York on Feb. 13. Emma Woods and Nicole Connery scored the only two goals of the season for the Bobcats' against the Saints, with Connery netting the game-tying goal at home to pick up the point. Fritz-Ward added an assist for the Bobcats on Connery's goal. All-time at St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac has posted a 2-6-2 record with their last win coming on Nov. 12, 2011 in a 3-2 come-from-behind victory.

Scouting the Saints
St. Lawrence has struggled defensively this season despite another strong offensive season. Kennedy Marchment leads the team with five goals and eight assists for 13 points, good for exactly one point per game this season. Defenseman Amanda Boulier is tied with Marchment for the most assists with eight while her 12 points are second on the team. Hannah Miller is third with four goals and seven assists for 11 points while Justine Reyes is fourth on the team with three goals and seven assists for 10 points. Freshman goaltender Sonjia Shelly has seen the majority of the action between the pipes starting eight games with a 4-4-0 record. She has recorded 222 saves on 242 shots for a GAA of 2.47 and a save percentage of .917. On special teams, St. Lawrence has struggled this season with just six power play goals in 34 chances for 17.6 percent while the penalty kill has let up eight goals to go 28 for 36 at 77.8 percent.

Multimedia
Both road games this weekend for the Bobcats will be streamed for free by both Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Fans can access these links by clicking the video link on the women's ice hockey schedule at QuinnipiacBobcats.com. In addition to free live streaming, live stats will also be available to watch by going to QuinnipiacBobcats.com and clicking on the live stats link in the schedule. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter all season long by following the team's Twitter account, @QU_WIH.

Bobcats in the Polls
For the eighth consecutive week this season, the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team was ranked in the top 10 of both the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, checking in at No. 8 in each in the USCHO.com Poll and No. 7 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. The Bobcats have been ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Poll for 53 consecutive weeks. In this week's poll, Quinnipiac is one of just four schools to have both their men's and women's ice hockey teams ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll.

Bobcats in the Pairwise
The Bobcats have climbed up the pairwise rankings since going 1-0-1 against Princeton last weekend and the completion of all women's college hockey games on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Clarkson (No. 5) is the only ECAC Hockey team above the Bobcats in the Pairwise rankings, with Harvard (No. 8) hot on the Bobcats' heals followed by Princeton (No. 10), Dartmouth (No. 11), St. Lawrence (No. 12) and Colgate (No. 14). The USCHO.com Pairwise Ranking attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I women's hockey tournament.

No Ruse Here
Cydney Roesler posted one of the best weekends of her collegiate career against the Tigers with two goals and one assist. Roesler's two goals both came in the Saturday game for her first career two-goal game. With one power play goal on Saturday, Roesler is tied for second on the team as she has netted four goals and six assists for 10 points. In conference play, Roesler is the highest scoring defenseman with three goals and two assists for five points, two points ahead of Princeton's Kelsey Koelzer. Roesler has a point in four of the six conference games to date. The senior captain heads into the weekend with 14 goals and 35 assists for 49 points, looking to become the 20th player in program history to record 50 points and fourth defenseman to do so.

Brownstone
Roesler wasn't the only Bobcat with a three-point weekend as Nicole Brown posted three points to tie for the team lead. With one goal and two assists, including a two-point game on Saturday, Brown posted her best weekend of the season. Brown scored the game-winning goal on Saturday in the Bobcats' 4-2 win over Princeton while assisting the game-tying goal. Brown is four points away from joining the 50-point club and become the 21st member in program history

I'll Be There For You
The stalwart between the pipes continues to play shine for the Bobcats as Sydney Rossman improved her overall record to 7-1-3 on the season and an impressive 11-1-4 in her career. Rossman tallied 37 saves on 40 shots this past weekend as one of the better goaltenders in ECAC Hockey. Of the full-time ECAC Hockey goaltenders, Rossman ranks second in GAA (1.51) and winning percentage (.773). She also has a .912 save percentage, steadily on the rise since the Bobcats lost to Yale, 4-3.

Turn the Page
In the midst of a breakout season, Meghan Turner has already muscled home four goals and assisted one more for five points as a junior. Turner's four goals marks the third consecutive season she has scored at least four goals, trailing her career-high of five set in her freshman season of 2013-14. Turner also has a pair of game-winning goals this season, tied with Melissa Samoskevich for the team lead. Turner's two game-winners are tied for third in the conference while her four goals are tied for third on the team, scoring a goal in three of the last five games.

Not a Taylar Rental
Taylar Cianfarano picked up her team-leading ninth goal of the season to boost her career total to 26 in just 48 games, good for more than a goal per game. Cianfarano's nine goals are second in the league to Clarkson's Cayley Mercer at 13, while Cianfarano's 0.82 goals per game are tops in the conference. Among the sophomores, Cianfarano leads the league in both goals and points (15) and her goals rank third nationally among sophomores. Since the start of conference play, Cianfarano has been one of the best in the league, leading all ECAC Hockey skaters with four conference goals.

Taryn It Up
Another single-game high was set on Saturday as Taryn Baumgardt recorded her first career two-assist game and her first career two-point game. Baumgardt's two helpers spurred the Bobcats comeback from down one goal two separate times. Baumgardt has now tied her assist total from all of last season in just 11 games.

Kost of Admission
Nicole Kosta picked up an assist on Saturday night for her 106th career point and 72nd career assist to separate herself as the second highest totals in each category in program history. Kosta's 72 assists rank second only to Kelly Babstock's 108 while her 106 points where second to Babstock's 203. The Bobcats are 5-0-0 when Kosta records at least one point.

Bright Spot
Despite being held without a point in a weekend for the first time in her career, Melissa Samoskevich continues to be among the Bobcats points leads as she leads the team in assists with 10 and is second on the team in points with 13. Samoskevich still leads ECAC Hockey with 0.91 assists per game while her 10 assists are tied for fourth in the conference. With 13 points, Samoskevich is tied for sixth overall while she leads all conference freshman in assists, points, assists per game and points per game. Nationally, Samoskevich is second among all freshman in assists per game, and third in assists, points and points per game.

Stepping It Up
The Bobcats defense continues to be among the best in the conference and in the nation, as they allow just 17.64 shots per game, the fewest in ECAC Hockey and the only team to allow below 20 shots per game. Nationally, the Bobcats are third in the country in shots on goal allowed per game, only trailing Wisconsin (15.92) and Minnesota (16.58). The Bobcats allow third fewest goals allowed per game in the conference and are sixth in the country at 1.55 while the penalty kill is seventh at 90.9 percent.