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Current Issue: Volume 130, Number 1 July 14, 2009

Sports


Women drop against nationally-ranked opponents

Posted 02-02-2008 at 6:31PM

Sara Melikian
Staff Reporter

Entering the weekend with a six-game unbeaten streak, the RPI women’s hockey team dropped two 3-0 shutout losses to nationally-ranked opponents. On Friday night, the now No. 6 St. Lawrence University Saints used the victory to improve their record to 18-7-0 overall, 11-2-0 in the ECAC. The next afternoon saw the now No. 9 Clarkson University Golden Knights rise to 18-5-3 overall, and 4-7-3 in the league, while RPI dropped to 11-10-4 overall, 4-7-3 in ECAC play. With the weekend losses to the No. 2 and 3 teams in the conference, the Engineers remain stuck in ninth place, just one spot short of a playoff berth.

The Engineers held the Saints to a close game for the first half, until a late second period drive by St. Lawrence put the team on the board with less than three minutes remaining in the period with a goal by junior Carson Duggan, her 18th of the season. Despite outshooting St. Lawrence 13-7 in the second and with seven power play opportunities throughout the contest, RPI was simply unable to put the puck in the net. The Engineers’ best break came in the second, when sophomore Whitney Naslund attempted a wrap-around goal on St. Lawrence senior Meaghan Guckian. Freshman goaltender Sonja van der Bliek played a solid game, stopping 27 of 30 shots she faced, while the win was credited to Guckian, who stopped all of the Engineers’ 25 shots.

Houston Field House played host to Clarkson in a Saturday matinee of ECAC hockey, where the Golden Knights came out strong, limiting the Engineers to one shot in the first 20 minutes of play. After an uneventful first period, Clarkson struck first when sophomore Ashleigh Moorehead sent a rocket of a wrist shot past RPI junior netminder Ashley Mayr nearly seven minutes into the second. Moorehead would strike again at 4:49 of the third, bringing the Golden Knights’ lead to 2-0. Even after a breakaway attempt by freshman Kendra Dunlop, Clarkson goalie Eve Grandmont-Berube was able to keep the Engineers scoreless. In a last ditch effort to regain control of the game, RPI pulled Mayr with 1:17 left in the third for the man advantage into the final minute of play. Unfortunately Clarkson’s Marie-Jo Gaudet would seal the Engineer’s fate, sending her 17th goal of the season into the empty net at 19:23.

Next weekend RPI will be on the road, facing seventh in the league Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, and Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. This weekend will prove crucial to the Engineers, where a pair of wins could place them back in playoff contention.



Posted 02-02-2008 at 6:31PM
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