QU Women's Ice Hockey to Host Clarkson in NCAA Tournament First Round on Saturday at 2 PM

Saturday, March 12

Hamden, Conn.

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Clarkson University

Tickets

QU Women's Ice Hockey to Host Clarkson in NCAA Tournament First Round on Saturday at 2 PM

3/8/2016 5:36:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: QU Sports Information

No. 4 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (30-2-5, 16-2-4 ECAC Hockey) vs.
Clarkson University Golden Knights (29-4-5, 14-3-5 ECAC Hockey)
Dates: March 12, 2016
Time: 2:00 P.M.
Location: High Point Solutions Arena - Hamden, Conn.
All-Time Series vs. Clarkson: 10-18-4
Last Meeting: W, 1-0 (March 6, 2016 in Hamden, Conn.)

Follow the Bobcats:
Live Video vs. Clarkson: QU All-Access
Live Stats vs. Clarkson: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Purchase Tickets: QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Twitter: @QU_WIH

Game Notes
Quinnipiac | Clarkson

Deja Vu
The No. 4 overall seed Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team will welcome the Clarkson Golden Knights to High Point Solutions Arena for the second consecutive weekend, this time for the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 12 at 2 PM.

All-Time Against Clarkson
Over the past two seasons, the Bobcats have held the advantage with the Golden Knights, winning five of the last six games against Clarkson with four shutouts and allowing just three goals over that span. Most recently, the Bobcats shutout the Golden Knights, 1-0, to win their first ever ECAC Hockey Championship title on Saturday, March 6. So far this season, the Bobcats are 2-0-1 against the Golden Knights in 2015-16. Earlier this season, the Bobcats shutout the Golden Knights 3-0 in Potsdam, New York on Nov. 20 before the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie on Feb. 13 in Hamden. Overall, Quinnipiac's win on Saturday was their 10^th ever against Clarkson but only the third at home.

Scouting the Golden Knights
With the loss to Quinnipiac in the league championship game, Clarkson's 18-game unbeaten streak came to an end for their first loss in the second half of the season. In the semifinals against Colgate on March 5, Clarkson outscored Colgate 5-2, and held a 32-17 shot advantage. The Golden Knights' offense has been one of the best in the country, scoring 137 goals in 38 games, led by Cayley Mercer with 24 goals and 25 assists for 49 points. Mercer is second to Cianfarano in the conference in goals and points. Olivia Howe is third on the team with 16 goals, third with 21 assists and tied for second with 37 points while Genevieve Bannon has 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points. Loren Gabel is second on the team with 18 goals. Defenseman Erin Ambrose leads all Clarkson blue-liners with seven goals and 21 assists for 28 points. Shea Tiley has been a force to be reckoned with between the pipes, going 26-4-5 with a 1.36 GAA and .929 save percentage, recording 606 saves in 35 games. Clarkson's special teams have been solid, going 22 for 114 on the power play (19.3 percent) while the penalty kill is just as strong, killing off 110 of 125 penalties (88 percent).

Multimedia
Saturday's NCAA Tournament first round game will be streamed live for free at QuinnipiacBobcats.com by accessing the Quinnipiac All-Access page. Free live stats of Saturday's NCAA Tournament game will also be available 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 22nd consecutive week this season, the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team is ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, ranking fourth for a program record 13th consecutive week. The Bobcats have been ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com Poll for 67 consecutive weeks. Once again, Quinnipiac is one of two schools in the country to have both its men's and women's ice hockey teams ranked in the top five of both polls, joined by Boston College who's men's team is ranked No. 3 and the women's team is No. 1.

Bobcats in the PairWise
Quinnipiac has continued to retain its solid position at the No. 4 spot in the PairWise rankings for the past three months, nestled between Minnesota at No. 3 and Clarkson at No. 5. With a .878 winning percentage, the Bobcats have the third highest winning percentage while its RPI of .6362 is higher than Clarkson's.

Playoff History
In program history, Quinnipiac owns a 14-10 record in the playoffs. The Bobcats are 11-5 in quarterfinal games, 2-4 in the semifinals, 1-0 in the ECAC Hockey Championship and 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament. On Sunday afternoon, the Bobcats clinched their first ECAC Hockey Championship title in program history as the No. 1 seed.

Playoffs Against Clarkson
The Bobcats and Golden Knights have become very familiar with each other, particularly in the playoffs. Quinnipiac knocked off Clarkson in the ECAC Hockey Championship Game, 1-0, on Saturday, March 6 for their first playoff win against the Golden Knights since the 2011-12 season. The NCAA Tournament first round will be the sixth individual game between the two teams. Prior to this season the Bobcats and Golden Knights met in the 2012 quarterfinals where the Bobcats traveled to Potsdam as the No. 6 seed and upset Clarkson to reach the semifinals for the second time in program history. After winning game one of the series, 4-1, the Bobcats fell, 2-1, in the second game before bouncing back to win the series with a 2-0 shutout. Two years later, the Bobcats and Golden Knights met in the semifinals of the 2014 ECAC Hockey Tournament, where Clarkson pulled away with the 6-0 win in Potsdam.

Regular Season Champs
For the first time in program history, the Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team has been crowned the regular season champions of ECAC Hockey. The Bobcats controlled the No. 1 spot in the standings for much of the 2015-16 season, recording their most conference wins (16) and fewest conference losses (2) in program history. The Bobcats 36 points were the most since the 2013-14 season when Clarkson won the regular season title with 36 points.

Not in my Zone
Quinnipiac is among the best teams in the country in numerous statistics, but are currently allowing the fewest shots on goal in the country with 653 allowed in 37 games. The Bobcats are also allowing the fewest shots on goal allowed per game at just 17.65, one of just four schools in the country to allow fewer than 20 shots per game (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Quinnipiac, and Clarkson).

Other National Stats
Nationally, the Bobcats rank in the top five of numerous categories. From a defensive standpoint, the Bobcats are second in the country in goals against average at 0.92, only trailing Wisconsin who has a 0.68 GAA. With just 34 goals allowed, the Bobcats have allowed the second fewest goals behind Wisconsin's 26. Special teams have also been a strength this season, with the Bobcats power play ranked third in the country at 25.7 percent and the penalty kill ranked second at 92.2 percent. Quinnipiac's 26 power-play goals are tied for sixth in the country.

Improved Power Play
The power play this season has developed into a big weapon for the Bobcats as they are third in the country, and first in ECAC Hockey, at 25.7 percent. Since Christmas break, the power play has been even better, clicking at a rate of 31.9 percent, which is third behind Minnesota and Boston College. The Bobcats have scored a power-play goal in 12 of their last 16 games since Jan. 9, including a stretch from Jan. 9 to Feb. 12 where they scored a power-play goal in eight straight games.

Breakin' Recs and Cashin' Checks
This year's Quinnipiac women's ice hockey team has been one of the best in program history, both offensively and defensively. The Bobcats have scored 118 goals, good for the most they have scored in a single season, to break the 2010-11 team's record of 105 goals. With 188 assists, the Bobcats have shattered the old mark of 157 from 2012-13. The Bobcats have also won the most home games (18) and tied for the most road wins (11) in a single season. Quinnipiac's 30 wins this season ties last year's team record. Even more impressive, the Bobcats are currently on pace to break the program records for highest power play percentage, highest penalty kill percentage, most goals scored per game, fewest goals allowed and lowest goals against average.

Home Cookin'
The Bobcats have some of the best home numbers in ECAC Hockey, led by their .909 winning percentage and are the only team in the conference to not have a loss with an 18-0-4 record. Quinnipiac is one of four schools in the country that have yet to record a loss at home. Over the past three seasons, the Bobcats have compiled a 45-4-10 record for a .847 winning percentage.

Cassie's Club
Head coach Cassandra Turner continues to make her mark in history as the winningest first year NCAA Women's Ice Hockey coach in history with her 30 wins this season. Turner broke the old record of 27 wins, which was held by three different coaches. At the Division I level, Brian McCloskey brought New Hampshire to a 27-7-2 record in 2003 while Brad Frost went 27-7-4 in his first season at the helm of Minnesota in 2008. Manhattanville's Nicole Hall also won 27 games at the Division III level in 2003.

More History for The Coach
Adding on to Coach Turner's record breaking season, she became the fourth head coach in Division I Women's Ice Hockey to win a conference tournament championship in their first season as coach, and first in the history of NCAA Women's Ice Hockey. Former New Hampshire head coach Russ McCurdy won the ECAC Championship in 1989-90 and followed by former Providence head coach Jackie Barto winning the ECAC Championship with Providence in 1994-95. Former Minnesota Duluth head coach Shannon Miller also achieved the feat in the 1999-2000 season as she won the first WCHA championship.

American Sports Network Player of the Week
With the game-winning goal against the Clarkson Golden Knights to win the championship, Nicole Brown was named the American Sports Network Player of the Week for the first time. Brown's goal was her eighth of the season to lead the Bobcats to their first title in program history.

Most Outstanding Player
Goaltender Sydney Rossman was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC Hockey Tournament's championship weekend after leading the league with 36 saves on 37 shots. Rossman's shutout in the championship game was her 16^th shutout of the season to tie the program record for shutouts in a single season.

All-Tournament Team
By being named the Most Outstanding Player, Rossman was the goaltender on the all-tournament team. In addition to Rossman, Nicole Brown and Nicole Connery were named as forwards on the All-Tournament Team and Emma Greco was named for defense.

Rossman
Sydney Rossman continues to leave her mark on history as she became the second Quinnipiac goaltender, men's or women's, to record 30 wins in a season as she joined Eric Hartzell who won 30 games in the 2012-13 season for the men's team. Rossman also became the ninth goaltender in women's ice hockey history to record 30 wins, and third this season. Currently, Rossman's 0.92 GAA is second in the country but ranks tied for fourth the lowest GAA in NCAA Women's Hockey history. Among active goaltenders, Rossman's 0.95 career GAA is the lowest in the country while her .945 career save percentage is the third best. With 16 shutouts this season, Rossman tied Chelsea Laden's program record set last season, while her 1 shutouts are second in the country to Wisconsin's Ann-Renee Desbiens. Historically, Rossman single-season total is tied with Laden for the third most in NCAA history.

Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Randi Marcon picked the perfect time to score her fourth goal of the season, putting home a juicy rebound with 5:10 left in regulation on Saturday afternoon to send the Bobcats to their first ECAC Hockey Championship Game in program history. Marcon's goal was her first career game-winner. Nicole Brown followed up Marcon's game-winner with one of her own in the championship game, scoring with 1:40 left in the first period where the Bobcats held on to the win.

This Greco's on Fire
Emma Greco has stepped up her game late in the season as she scored her second career goal, and second goal in the last four games, with a second period tally against St. Lawrence on Saturday in the ECAC Hockey Semifinals. Greco has now recorded points in three of the last four games on her way to two goals, five assists and seven points.

Apples to Apples
Nicole Connery picked up an assist on Brown's game-winning goal for her 24^th assist of the season, tied with Taylar Cianfarano for the most on the team. Connery's assist also gives her 37 points this season, second to Cianfarano on the team. Connery is looking for her first 40-point season and would become just the fourth different player to record a 40-point season in program history.

Captain Cyd
Cydney Roesler also had an assist on Brown's game-winning goal for the Bobcats in the conference championship game to pick up her ninth assist and 13^th point of the season. Roesler has continued to be a workhorse for the Bobcats as she helped guide the team to their first league championship title.

Live Free or Die
Finding the stat sheet for the first time since Feb. 6, Meghan Turner fed the game-winning assist to Marcon against the St. Lawrence Saints in the semifinals to give the Bobcats their first championship title. Turner has eight goals and four assists this season for 12 points, just one point shy of tying her career-high.

23's World
Raquel Pennoyer also picked up an assist on Marcon's game-winning goal for her third assist of the season as the Bobcats third-line came together in one of the biggest moments of the season, to this point. Pennoyer has four points this season and six points in her career.

10 Times the Fun
Also getting into the assist action was Taryn Baumgardt as she assisted Greco's second career goal in the win over St. Lawrence. Baumgardt is tied with Roesler for 13 points this season on three goals and 10 assists, her first career 10 assist season.

Crazy Good Numbers
Taylar Cianfarano picked up her 24^th assist of the season on Greco's goal, giving the Bobcats' sophomore 52 points this season, good for the third most in program history. Despite not finding the back of the net, Cianfarano is still tied for 22^nd among all active NCAA women's ice hockey players with 45 career goals. Those 45 goals also happen to give Cianfarano the most among the entire NCAA women's ice hockey sophomore class through just 73 career games.

Kosta's Killing It
Nicole Kosta ranks among one of the most prolific scorers in the NCAA with the 14^th most points among all active players, tallying 123 in her career. Kosta's 123 points rank second among active ECAC Hockey players to Clarkson's Erin Ambrose. Kosta is also 10^th among active players with 84 career assists. She is just one goal shy of becoming the fourth player in program history to record at least 40 goals and 40 assists in a career.