SOPHOMORE FORWARD LAUREN WASH GOES for the wrist shot through a few Boston University players during Friday's game versus the Terriers. The Engineers tied after three periods and a five-minute overtime period.“Pack the House Night” for the women’s ice hockey team ended in a tie between the Engineers and the No. 7 Boston University Terriers after three periods and a five-minute overtime this past Friday to kick off the weekend. It was a rather slow game for Rensselaer, but they worked hard to meet the sufficient end that would avoid handing them a complete loss in this non-conference competition.
The first goal of the game was scored by BU’s Jordan Juron just under three minutes into the opening period. The RPI crowd was silenced as the Boston side roared and brandished their red flags, but the Engineers on the ice never doubted their abilities to return the lost point. Before the finish of period one, sophomore forward Alexa Gruschow fired the puck into the back of the net after dashing down the right side of the ice on a breakaway.
The teams headed into the first intermission with 1-1 on the board, but the Terriers returned in a heat in an attempt to up the score and regain possession of the game. Rebecca Russo of Boston—who held the assist in the first period—gave RPI a one-point deficit yet again only thirty-four seconds after the puck dropped in the second.
After it seemed as if the score were sure to remain the same, RPI senior defenseman Madison Marzario passed the puck off to junior forward Taylor Mahoney for the last point of the game, as Mahoney rocketed one into the goal to bring the Engineers and the Terriers to balance. In the five-minute overtime, shots were in favor of Rensselaer 6-3, but not a single shot was let in by either goalkeeper, thus ending in the first tie of the season for both teams. RPI outshot BU 36-28 in total, while RPI junior keeper Kelly O’Brien recorded 26 saves and BU’s Kerrin Sperry had 34.
On Saturday, the Engineers hosted Northeastern and finished the night with an unfortunate 2-1 loss at the Field House despite their valiant efforts to come out on top. The Huskies put a point on the scoreboard first, as Kelly Wallace propelled the puck past O’Brien with just over five minutes gone into the game. For the remainder of the first, the Engineers led with ten shots on goal compared to Northeastern’s nine, and headed into the second period down by one. The next twenty minutes stayed the same, with the Engineers again outshooting the Huskies 14-6. Even sophomore standout Gruschow could not put the puck past junior Northeastern goalie Chloe Desjardins, despite her many attempts.
Finally, with just over thirteen minutes left in the third period, sophomore forward Lauren Wash added a point for RPI to the board on the quick assist by freshman Laura Horwood, received off the rebound of junior Ali Svoboda’s shot. However, the Engineers failed to contain the Huskies as a shot by Bella Sinsigalli deflected off of Paige Savage past O’Brien into the net for the lead and the final score. Although their offense was prime, Northeastern goalie Desjardins had the game in the palm of her hand, stopping 33 out of the 34 RPI shots and steering the Huskies towards victory. The Engineers put in a good effort, especially O’Brien, who blocked 18 shots between the pipes.
The Engineers play again next weekend, Saturday afternoon against the University of Vermont at 3 pm.