Minneapolis, MN – Through the first half of the season, the Clarkson University Women’s Hockey team has hosted a steady stream of highly-ranked squads at Cheel Arena and sent all of them back out with losses. On Friday night, the Golden Knights had to travel all the way to the Central Time Zone to face the second-ranked University of Minnesota and the Golden Gophers sent third-ranked Clarkson to a 4-0 loss, its third of the season, in front of 1,033 fans at Ridder Arena.

The Golden Knights dropped to 12-3-1 overall with their second loss in the last three games. Minnesota moved to 12-2-1 on the season. The two teams will face one another again Saturday afternoon.

Clarkson dominated play early in the first period, but Minnesota finished out strong with a 13-7 lead in shots after the first 20 minutes. The Golden Gophers continued to produce offensively in the second period and finally broke the scoreless tie midway through the middle frame. Terra Rasmussen scored at 11:53, her sixth goal of the season, with an assist coming from Anne Schleper. Though the Knights sent a few more shots on goal in the period, they were unable to record the equalizer.

In the third period, Minnesota scored three insurance goals over a five-minute span. At 5:43 Kelly Seeler scored for the Gophers to start the barrage. Less than three minutes later Brittany Francis picked up a goal on the power play for Minnesota, and just over two minutes later Emily West lifted the Gophers to a 4-0 advantage.

Minnesota finished with a 39-20 edge in shots, the most shots by a Clarkson opponent in 2009-10. Junior Lauren Dahm (Baldwinsville, NY) made a season-high 35 saves for the Knights, while Noora Raty made 20 stops for the Gophers.