The offense came out early for the Engineers, as Katie Woodward scored just over a minute into the game with help from Deanna Dougherty and Julie Welte. Seahawks’ goalie Kristin Suslowicz stifled the RPI offense in the first period, stopping 25 shots and making some acrobatic saves. But Suslowicz could not stop the Engineers by herself. After a slashing penalty on Salve, Rensselaer took control on the power play. Dougherty skated around the Salve net and slung a pass across to a waiting Welte, who drove the puck into the back of the net to make the score 2-0.

Kari Rabatin opened up the scoring for RPI in the second period, scoring off Jennifer Onksen rebound to push the score to 3-0. The Engineers were clearly out-skating the hapless Seahawks, as Rensselaer goaltender Julie Vallarelli only faced six goals in the first period and the first half of the second. Seahawk Meghen Toland took a high-sticking penalty at 4:43, but the RPI power play could not solve Salve goalie Suslowicz.

Knowing that this was their last game of the season, the Salve Regina coach decided to give some playing time to back-up goaltender Sarah Kuecher. During a stoppage at 9:06 of the second period, the Seahawks switched their goalie. Rensselaer Coach Bill Cahill also wanted to play both his goalies, but changed them up in a more daring fashion. After RPI won the face-off and carried the puck into the zone, Cahill motioned Vallarelli to the bench. With the puck in the offensive zone, Vallarelli jumped over the boards into the bench, and All-Rookie goalie Rosina Schiff skated into net. This brought thunderous applause from the fans, honoring both Vallarelli’s play and Cahill’s confidence in his team.

Amidst the goalie switching, the RPI offense could not be stopped. Despite a hooking penalty on Woodward, the Engineers drove into the Salve zone, and Meredith Langille scored unassisted at 10:37. The shorthanded surge did not stop there. After a roughing penalty to Engineer forward Bridget Rice, the killing unit found the goal again. This time, speedster Christina Jankowski broke away from the Seahawks defense and beat Kuecher off of a beautiful feed from Woodward to give Rensselaer the five goal lead.

The penalty-killing unit for the Engineers continued their scoring in the third period. Twenty-two seconds after a checking penalty to Engineer defender Maj Nixon, Onksen tallied a shorthanded goal, her second shorthanded point of the game, to put Rensselaer up 6-0. Lane Dielwart scored two minutes later with a rocket slap-shot from the point. Salve Regina, obviously frustrated, started to play more physical, and took an interference penalty at 5:53 in the third. Sondra Sherman got into the scoring, slapping a shot past Kuecher to tally the fifth special teams’ goal of the evening.

The power of the Engineers’ offense overwhelmed the Salve defense. Less than two minutes after the Sherman goal, Dielwart shot another laser from the point. A Seahawk defender tried to block the shot but only deflected it past her own goalie. Eighteen seconds later, before the ninth goal could be announced, Woodward beat Kuecher on a nice feed from Dougherty to put Rensselaer up 10-0. Allyn Cooper capped off the scoring for the Engineers, blasting a shot into the top-left corner of the goal. The Engineers did not score the rest of the game, despite holding the puck in the Seahawks’ zone for the majority of the remaining time.

Vallarelli and Schiff combined for the shutout with timely saves and solid goaltending. Vallarelli made six saves, and Schiff tallied five in split time.