Box Score (PDF)
 
POTSDAM, N.Y. – Cornell women's hockey tallied two shorthanded goals in the span of 1:12 and continued to roll in an 8-3 rout of defending National Champion No. 6 Clarkson Friday night at Cheel Arena. The Big Red shook off its road struggles in a big way to score its first victory of the season on opponent ice, while improving to 4-2-0 in ECAC Hockey play.
 
The Cornell special teams came to play in a scintillating opening period for the visiting Big Red. Cornell (5-6-1, 4-2-0 ECAC Hockey) tallied twice shorthanded, while also adding a power-play goal, to jump out to a commanding 4-1 lead at the intermission.
 
Trailing 1-0 on a Genevieve Bannon goal at 6:31 of the first period; Cornell quickly found itself in an early predicament when junior forward Jess Brown went off for tripping at 8:01 of the period. The Big Red turned disadvantage into advantage in a big way, scoring twice on the penalty kill to stifle the Golden Knights and take command of the contest. The two headed monster of senior forwards Jillian Saulnier and team captain Brianne Jenner each tallied a goal on the game changing penalty kill.
 
Saulnier started the run at 8:10 of the period. After Clarkson (11-6-1, 5-2-1 ECAC Hockey) controlled the faceoff to begin the player advantage, Saulnier picked off a puck at the blue-line and streaked 100 feet on a breakaway, fending off hellacious backchecking from two Golden Knights along the way. She deked backhand and fired a sinister wrister stick side on Clarkson's fantastic freshman goaltender Shea Tiley (L, 11-6-1) to equalize the game at 1-1.  
 
Jenner put the Big Red ahead 1:21 later, a lead it would not relinquish. Junior Cassandra Poudrier started the play with a clearance of the zone. Saulnier corralled the clearance and carried the puck into the Clarkson zone two-on-two with Jenner. As she approached the net, she pushed the puck past the defender, who attempted to shield her away. Saulnier would not be denied, as she tumbled to the ice, she reached as far as she could and made a blind backhand pass right to the blade of Jenner at the backdoor. Jenner tapped it past the glove hand of Tiley for the 2-1 lead and the second shorthanded goal of the penalty kill.
 
The sudden turn of events seemed to shock the Golden Knights. The Big Red took little time to capitalize. Jenner doubled the lead 2:11 later with another spectacular goal. Saulnier fed Jenner the puck in the high-slot. Blanketed by Clarkson defenders, she was completely tied up, but stuck with the puck. Although she was off balanced, the senior captain whipped a backhand on net as she fell to the ice. The shot squeaked past Tiley.
 
Both Jenner (2g –2a) and Saulnier (1g–3a) would finish with four point nights. With the two goals, Jenner tied Amy Stanzin (1982-86) for sixth on the program's all-time scoring list with 84 career goals. Saulnier's three apple evening moved her into a tie with Catherine White (2008-11) for fifth place on the program's all-time list with 101 career helpers.
 
The Big Red continued to dominate possession in the period and at 15:16 of the first period freshman Erin O'Connor stretched the lead to 4-1 on the power-play. Sophomore Brianna Veerman and Jenner assisted on the young blue-liner's fourth tally on the year.
 
The Big Red picked up right where it left off beginning the middle stanza. Junior Jess Brown turned the commanding lead into a rout scoring the only two goals of the period. She would finish with a hat trick and career-high four points.
 
The first of her three consecutive tallies came on a three-on-one break. Sophomore Kaitlin Doering shuffled the puck to Saulnier on the right wing as the trio moved into the offensive zone. Saulnier drew the defender and dropped a perfect setup to Brown who was charging down the slot between the circles. She one timed a laser into the twine to chase Tiley from the game just 22 minutes in.
 
Brown added her second of the game at 8:53 of the period. The Big Red did an excellent job of possessing the puck in the offensive zone against a gassed Clarkson line that was stuck on the ice for an extended shift because of the long second period change. Poudrier protected the puck while pinched in down below the end line, before moving it to sophomore Hanna Bunton on the right half wall. The forward surveyed the scene for a moment, before firing a low shot towards new Clarkson net-minder McKenzie Johnson. Brown got a stick on the puck, redirecting it through the five-hole to up the Cornell lead to 6-1.
 
Clarkson forward Renata Fast pulled the Golden Knights one goal closer early in the third, wristing a shot past Paula Voorheis (W, 4-6-1) to cut the deficit to 6-2. Voorheis would finish with a 35 saves as she held strong despite a barrage of Golden Knights shots in the final 20 minutes of play.
 
Brown completed her hat trick just over six minutes after Fast's goal. Junior blue-liner Taylor Woods moved the puck down the left wall to Jenner, who quickly moved the puck to Brown in the slot. The junior forward one-timed the puck into the twine.
 
Erin Ambrose would make the score 7-3 at 11:19 of the period, before Doering would cap the Big Red scoring outburst, finding the back of the net with under three minutes remaining.
 
The eight goal output was the Big Red's highest since an 8-1 victory over Union at Lynah Rink on Nov. 13, 2013. Surprisingly, it came against one of the nation's stingiest defenses. The Golden Knights ranked sixth entering the weekend, averaging just 1.53 goals allowed per game. The Golden Knights have not allowed eight goals in a game since becoming a Division I program in 2003-04. It is also the most goals a Cornell squad has scored in a game at Clarkson since 1980, when the Big Red dispatched the Golden Knights 13-2, when the Clarkson program competed as a club team.
 
Cornell will conclude the 2014 portion of its schedule tomorrow afternoon when it takes on St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena. The Saints beat Colgate 5-0 on Friday night to move to 5-2-1 in conference play. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m.