At 7 pm, on Friday November 13, the Rensselaer women’s ice hockey team went to Hanover, NH to play against Dartmouth College. In the first period, Dartmouth started by getting a power play at 2:43 and made one shot on net, which was saved by freshman goalie Lovisa Selander. Later, RPI also got its first chance at a power play at 09:05. However, the Engineers failed to capitalize on that advantage and let Dartmouth make three shots, while RPI only had one. Dartmouth’s second chance for a power play started at 15:41; after two attempts, it finally seized the opportunity with only 26 seconds left. Dartmouth forward Lindsey Allen scored the first goal for Dartmouth with assistance from defender Eleni Tebano. During the entire game, RPI failed to organize effective offense. With a short-handed goal at 12:59 in the second period by Kennedy Ottenbreit and assisted by Hailey Noronha, a goal shot by Ailish Forfar and assisted by Allen and Laura Stacey, and a fourth goal accomplished by Brooke Ahbe and assisted by Ottenbreit and Noronha, Dartmouth finally won the game with 4-0.
Throughout this game, RPI continuously lost its dominant position in power plays. The Engineers only made 21 shots in the whole game, while the more active Dartmouth had 39 shots. However, freshman goalie Selander’s well-performed saves were some of the biggest highlights of the game. Although technically, the saving percentage of Selander, 89.74 percent, was lower than that of Dartmouth’s goalie, it is important to consider the overall inactiveness in saving percentage.
At 4 pm on November 14, the Engineers confronted their sixth Eastern College Athletics Conference Hockey opponent, Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the first period, the game went into stalemate with only seven shots by RPI and eight shots by Harvard. At 09:39 in the second period, the deadlock was broken by a goal from RPI freshman forward Taylor Schwalbe, with assistance from senior defenseman Jenn Godin and senior forward Mari Mankey. Harvard quickly followed with a goal at 11:21 in the same period. Harvard eliminated the Engineers’ advantage in less than two minutes and tied the game. Despite 21 shots in the second period, RPI failed to make further progress in scoring. In the last period, both Harvard forward Grace Zarzecki and RPI senior defenseman Godin were penalized at 10:16 respectively for embellishment and holding. Shortly after the coincidental minor penalties, Harvard forward Miye D’Oench, with the help of forward Haley Mullins and forward Sydney Daniels, seized the great opportunity at 12:51, and scored the game-winning goal for Harvard University.
In this game, RPI won 25 face-offs out of 49, made 33 shots and got one power play goal. Given everyone’s average performance in this play, it is obvious that the Engineers, as an entity, are ceaselessly making progress and developing better coordination with team members. With the current 2-3-1 in ECAC, Rensselaer will have a performance game with McGrill University at 2 pm on Sunday, November 22 in Montreal, Quebec and meet Yale University head-on in its 7th ECAC game on Friday, December 4, at 3 pm at the Houston Field House.