In the first weekend of ECAC league play for the Engineers, the women’s hockey team picked up a tie and a win to improve its record to 5-1-1 overall as it is now 1-0-1 in the league. A 3-1 win over Brown University on Saturday afternoon followed an exciting 1-1 tie to Yale University the previous night.
Sophomore Allison Wright was the star in Saturday’s convincing victory over the Bears with two goals and an assist, while the Engineers outshot the visitors 34-12 on the afternoon.
The Engineers got on the board first with a power play goal at 8:13 into the first by sophomore Allysen Weidner. She was set up by classmate Whitney Naslund, who received the puck from Wright.
Brown tied things up at 16:28 when it got a hold of a rebound shot that freshman goalie Sonja van der Bliek was unable to keep control of. Van der Bliek was solid the rest of the night, stopping 11 shots as she improved to 3-0.
After assisting on the first goal, Wright put in the game-winner at 5:30 into the second period when she stole the puck in the neutral zone and headed for the net for an unassisted score. She added an insurance goal in the third period off a long pass by junior Melissa Boik.
The previous night, in its ECAC season opener, RPI was unable to get a win over Yale and settled for the one-apiece tie. The Engineers again scored the first goal, gaining the lead early at 10:39 in the first period when Wright received the puck from Naslund, who was able to get a hold of it in a scrum in front of the net. Weidner was also given an assist on the play.
An evenly-matched second period without scoring led to the third period’s goal by the Bulldogs’ Sarah Tittman at 9:45. Although Yale outshot RPI 12-6 in the third period, the overtime session belonged to the Engineers, as they let Bulldog’s goalie Shivon Zilis face the heat, but to no avail, as the game ended in a tie with Zilis making 32 saves throughout the game.
Junior RPI netminder Ashley Mayr also finished with a solid line of 32 saves to keep the home-standing Engineers alive throughout the game.
The Engineers host No. 8 University of Connecticut at 7 pm this Wednesday in the Houston Field House before hosting Northeastern University this Saturday at 2 pm for a pair of non-conference games.
The UConn contest will be a big test for the game as they attempt to gain momentum before heading out on the road to Clarkson University, St. Lawrence University, and Wayne State in the coming weeks. The UConn Huskies are sporting a 7-1 record with victories over both Colgate and SLU.
