The match-up between the Engineers and the Valiants was a battle for the top-spot in the ECAC Division III East.

RPI fell behind early in the first game of the weekend, yielding a goal to Nicole Blias at 6:34 in the first period. The Engineer special teams kicked in after a penalty by Valiant Jennifer Mulick; the power play unit took just 11 seconds to convert on the man-advantage. Julie Welte put the puck past Manhattanville goalie Nicole Elliott. The rest of the period passed without further scoring and the teams went into the first period break tied at one.

The Engineers took their first lead of the game in the second period, when Sarah Daniel scored with help from Kari Rabatin and Bridget Rice. Manhattanville fired right back after a penalty by Meredith Langille; Amanda Nonis scored a goal with 19 seconds left in the power play to tie the game at two. The Valiants took the lead with a quick goal by Jennifer Mulick, her eleventh of the season.

The RPI power play took advantage of another Manhattanville penalty at the onset of the third period. Kelly Barbera took advantage of the man-advantage off an assist from Julie Aho to tie the game at three.

After another Valiant penalty at 8:17, the RPI power play unit tried to find the net again, but Manhattanville capitalized on the aggressive play. The Engineers yielded a shorthanded goal to Jesse Garner to give up the lead. The shorthanded goal turned into the game-winning goal as the Engineers fell 4-3.

Rosina Schiff played an outstanding game, despite yielding four goals. Schiff made 41 saves in the losing effort.

The second game of the weekend set was won by the special teams’ efforts of the Valiants. Manhattanville killed nine RPI power plays, taking the game 4-1.

Manhattanville took an early lead again, when Jessica Zimmerman scored off assists from Jessica Temesy and Jami Grasby. RPI took a pair of penalties late in the first period, but managed to kill one of the Valiant power plays to go into the intermission down one goal.

The Valiants piled it on in the second period, scoring early on the hold-over penalty to Allie Cooper. Nonis scored her second goal of the weekend on the power play, her tenth of the season. Cherie Stewart added an unassisted goal at 10:06 to put the Valiants up 3-0.

RPI attempted a comeback in the third period; Daniel scored with help from Rice and Rabatin five minutes into the game’s final session. Manhattanville took a slew of penalties at the halfway point of the period, but the Engineers couldn’t convert, despite having more than two minutes of 5-on-3.

RPI pulled Schiff with 2:19 left, but could not convert with the extra attacker. Garner capped the game with an empty-netter at 19:24 to push the final score to 4-1.

The Engineers needed to rebound with strong games against the Holy Cross Crusaders and responded with a pair of shutouts.

Brooke Thompson led off the scoring with a pretty goal off a feed from Aho at 7:19 in the first period.

The Engineers took a pair of penalties, but killed them both to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

Holy Cross took an early penalty at 4:54, and the Engineers power play kicked into gear. Welte scored at 5:07 with help from Langille and Daniel. After a pair of RPI penalties and a trio of Holy Cross penalties, the RPI power play unit found the net again. Langille scored with help from Welte and Daniel to tally the Engineers’ second power play goal of the period.

The Crusaders stayed out of the penalty box in the third, but it couldn’t stop the Engineers’ momentum. Katie Temple scored at 5:15 to push the lead to four, and Paula Durham capped off the game with her first goal of the year.

Schiff stopped all nine shots she saw to tally her second shutout of the year.

The RPI power play continued to click in the second game, going two for seven and winning 6-0.

Rabatin opened up the scoring with help from Daniel and Rice at 18:01 in the first.

Ciara Libaridian scored her first goal of the year at 4:53 in the second, off a nice feed from Christina Jankowski. Holy Cross’ Kathleen Remsberg took a checking penalty at 8:09, and the Engineers took advantage.

Barbera scored just 13 seconds into the power play, with help from Welte and Daniel. Jennifer Onksen scored the four goal of the game and her first goal of the weekend at 13:59 to put the Engineers up 4-0.

Daniel scored a quick goal 22 seconds into the third period, and Rabatin capped off the scoring with a power play goal at 12:42.

Schiff and Julie Vallarelli combined for the shutout, with Schiff making four saves in two periods of action and Vallarelli making four saves in the third.