Princeton opened up the scoring on Friday night when junior Annie Greenwood took advantage of a hooking call on junior Melanie Guillemette, and scored her eighth of the season at 13:12 of the first period. It would take until 14:59 of the second for RPI to respond, when freshman Kendra Dunlop also scored her eighth of the year, with assists from sophomore Allison Wright and junior Nicole McDonald.

The rest of the period would remain tame, save a penalty by Princeton on which Rensselaer was unable to convert. The Engineers would go 0-3 on the power play that night. The Tigers kicked off the third with a goal at 9:27 by junior Christine Foster, and struck again at 15:37 when senior Liz Keady scored.

With another loss imminent, RPI stepped its game up dramatically. After pulling junior goaltender Ashley Mayr with less than two minutes remaining in the period, Guillemette deflected a shot from the point by junior defenseman Melissa Boik to score her ninth of the year, bringing the Engineers one goal closer to a tie. McDonald would bridge that gap 17 seconds later with her ninth of the year, off a rebound by classmate Jamie Jacquard-Sowa. One of the big positives for the Engineers was that they were able to step up and deliver when it was most needed. “That we were able to come back with one minutes thirty [seconds] left in the game against Princeton, that shows a lot of character on our behalf,” said Stewart. “Unfortunately, we were unable to hold onto that tie in overtime.”

The Tigers stopped the Engineers’ impressive drive halfway through overtime, when Keady scored her second of the game at 2:47. Princeton goalie junior Kristen Young would improve her record to 10-8-4, while Mayr’s would drop to 3-7-2.

“Without a doubt the Princeton game shows how hungry we are for wins. I think this attitude will carry on into the rest of our season and will definitely help us,” said senior captain Brooke Thompson.

Saturday’s contest pitted the second-to-last-place Quinnipiac against the Engineers in a game that would result in a 4-0 shutout against the Bobcats. Guillemette added her 10th of the season—the eventual game-winner—with an assist by senior Kelly Barbera at the 11:20 mark of the first. RPI would add another tally in the period as junior Jamie-Lynn Stewart scored her third goal of the season with assists by Thompson and sophomore Whitney Naslund.

Commencing the start of the second, junior Nicole McDonald took no time in netting her 10th of the year, capping off a three-point weekend barely 20 seconds after the puck drop with assists from sophomores Laura Gersten and Allison Wright. The Engineers successfully killed off three penalties in the second, and went back into the locker room with a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play. Sophomore Allysen Weidner would add an empty net goal at 18:28 of the third to seal RPI’s win with assists from Barbera and senior Ellen McNamara.

Freshman Sonja van der Bliek turned away all 30 of the Bobcats’ shots to earn her fourth shutout of the year, while Quinnipiac’s Jamie Miller was handed her 15th loss of the season.

Next weekend the Engineers remain on the road, taking on Dartmouth College with 2006 U.S. Olympic star Sarah Parsons, as well as top in the nation Harvard University, a team that remains undefeated in ECAC play. “We always expect to win and that’s no different with this weekend,” said Thompson.

“Hopefully we can play the way we know how,” said Steward. “Last time we played Dartmouth we were right in the game, hopefully this time we can be the team that comes out with the win. A win for us would be huge especially since we are fighting to get a playoff spot.” With six games left in the season, RPI needs to continue on with the same intensity seen this past weekend in order to see playing time in the 2008 ECAC women’s hockey championship.