Friday night’s 3-0 loss to Dartmouth was nothing to be ashamed of; it was, in fact, a great showing of how far the Engineers have come this season. “Our team has made tremendous strides since the first half of the season. We are competing in every game and we’re not intimidated by anyone,” said junior Julie Aho.

“We are definitely a different team than we were at the beginning of the season. I think we played much better with them but there is still room for improvement,” said junior Brooke Thompson.

The Big Green with their Olympian-stacked line-up took until the third period to put the game away. Although they lit the lamp just 4:30 into the first period, the game remained 1-0 until just after the second intermission when Sarah Toupal scored her third of the season and then later in the third when Jenna Cunningham made it 3-0 to keep the game out of reach.

“The top two teams in the league move the puck fast. We need to match or exceed their puck movement to find success in the playoffs,” said Aho.

Sophomore goalie Ashley Mayr made 31 saves and kept RPI in the game despite her team being drastically out-shot. RPI only had two shots on net during the first period, improving to eight during the second and fell to four during the third. The game was still played close as freshman Allysen Weidner nearly tied it up at the end of the second period.

The next night was against Harvard, another close game in which RPI took a 1-0 lead midway through the second period when Thompson found the back of the net during a power play. Thompson connected with a rebounding shot by sophomore Mel Guillemette who was credited with the assist. Just under six minutes later, Harvard forward Laura Brady responded to tie the game at one apiece.

The Engineers were enjoying the game and the unexpected tied score until the third period arrived and Harvard scored four more unanswered goals. The first came just 30 seconds into the period and was followed a second five minutes later making it 3-1.

In a desperate attempt to tie the game in the final minute, Engineer goalie Mayr was pulled for an extra skater but the play backfired when Harvard’s Sarah Vaillancourt found the puck and sent it toward the empty net. Although Vaillancourt’s hat trick had already put the game out of reach, Harvard would score a fifth time with just two seconds on the clock.

Mayr had once again kept the team in the game even though the Engineers were sorely out-shot. Mayr stopped 28 shots while RPI could only muster two in the first, five in the second, and four in the third. “Our goaltending was phenomenal. Ashley played with confidence and gave us a chance to win,” said Aho.