The RPI women’s hockey team has enjoyed a stellar start to the season, and looked to stay undefeated under new Head Coach John Burke Friday night in a match-up with the Utica Pioneers.
Utica brought a physical style of play to town, and it showed in the first period of the game. The Pioneers often played the body, a style that the Engineers had not seen yet this season.
Just two minutes into the game, Allie Cooper took a slashing penalty. The Utica power play went to work, finding the net in just 21 seconds. Off of a feed from behind the net, Katie Juliano beat RPI goaltender Julie Valarelli with a wrist shot up high.
Utica began to pay for their physical play, taking two sloppy penalties eight minutes into play. Just 25 seconds after a Courtney Sauders hooking penalty, Melissa Lomanto took a seat in the box for checking. The Engineers would capitalize on the two-skater advantage.
Julie Aho found the net off the goalie at 8:48 with help from Meredith Langille.
Utica continued to take penalties, despite getting burned on the power play. Courtney Bank took the third Pioneer penalty of the evening, taking a seat for roughing at 10:21.
Utica goalie Sarah Detwiler almost single-handedly killed the Engineers’ chance, making several key saves. Detwiler also covered the puck four times to quell the RPI momentum.
The Pioneer offense kicked into gear again with 2:54 remaining in the first. Jennifer Williams pushed the puck into the net to put Utica up 2-1 going into the period break.
Utica used their team speed in the second period to put the run-around on the Engineers. At 5:39, Kristi Bland streaked through the Engineers’ zone and beat Valarelli with a wrap-around to put the Pioneers up 3-1.
Pressure in the defensive zone led to the Engineers’ second goal, with freshman Sarah Daniel scoring off an assist from Lane Dielwart.
The starting line of Julie Welte, Langille, and Aho scored the third goal for the Engineers, with Langille getting the goal from Aho and Welte at 18:36.
Shortly after the third goal, RPI co-captain Katie Woodward took a checking penalty. The Utica power play was firing on all cylinders, and scored 19 seconds after the penalty. The Engineers went in to the locker room down 4-3 after two periods.
Coach Burke shuffled the game plan for the third period, and the line of Welte, Langille, and Aho saw more playing time. “We’re strong skaters,” commented Welte, “We’ve had two games, and they’ve only had one.”
The endurance of the Engineers showed through in the third, with Utica looking flat in comparison.
RPI’s line of Welte, Langille, and Aho found the net again at the 4:07 mark in the third. Hard work through the neutral zone led to Welte getting the puck down low. “I got the puck down low, and used a move that Coach Cahill taught me,” said Welte after the game, “We must have practiced it a million times.”
With the game tied at four, Utica’s physical presence and RPI’s strong defense butted heads and the Engineers could not convert on a pair of Pioneer penalties. The continuing hard work of the Engineers paid off with less than a minute left in regulation.
Off a key Daniel face-off win, Aho streaked into the Pioneer zone and scored with just 38.9 seconds remaining. “Crash the net, all the way,” commented Welte on Aho’s game winning goal. “I drove hard to the net and got rewarded,” said Aho.
Valarelli made four saves in the third without allowing a goal in the period. She made eight in the first and five in the second for a total of 17.
The Enigneers are now 2-0-1 on the season, and open up their ECAC East schedule Saturday versus MIT at 3 pm. They will first travel to Vermont to take on the Division I Lady Catamounts Friday, and then come home to take on D-I Clarkson Sunday at 2 pm.
