That is what the women’s hockey team learned this past weekend, as their winless streak was extended to four games after narrowly missing out on a spot in the national polls before the start of winter break. Despite a strong effort put forth by the Engineers against two tough ECAC opponents this past weekend, the women’s hockey team, which now sits 11-9-3 overall and 6-4-2 in conference play, was dealt a pair of 3-2 losses against the Colgate University Raiders and the Cornell University Big Red on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

“I thought we played extremely well this weekend,” said Head Coach John Burke. “Our five-on-five play was outstanding; however, our special teams really let us down this weekend, with four of the six goals against us being on the power play.

“It’s a long season,” Burke continued. “You’re bound to have some ups and downs, and this was just a down week for us.”

The Raiders, who are now 11-9-2 overall and 5-4-2 in the ECAC with Friday’s win, came out shooting in the opening period of play. At 14:03 of the frame, Colgate netted their first goal of the game off a one-timer from the slot by senior Sam Hunt. Classmate Kiira Dosdall received the puck from the high slot from junior Katie Stewart, who sent a quick pass to Hunt during the power play opportunity. In one fluid motion, Hunt sent the puck whizzing past RPI sophomore goaltender Sonja van der Bliek’s left ear—Hunt’s team-leading 10th goal of the season. Nearly two minutes later the Raiders struck again as junior Beth Rotenberg added another power play tally on the night with assists by classmate Marissa Dombovy and sophomore Jessi Waters.

Up 2-0 entering the second period, Colgate added their third and final goal of the game 6:29 into the frame as K. Stewart added her ninth goal of the year, also on the power play. Dosdall and senior Erin Brown also helped on the play.

The Engineers were not to be outdone, as they came back from the three-goal deficit with a mark of their own midway through the second period. Senior Nicole McDonald netted her third goal of the season past recently named ECAC Rookie of the Week Kimberly Sass, with assists by fellow senior Jamie-Lynn Stewart, at 13:23.

Entering the third frame, the Engineers were able to add one more goal as sophomore Sydney O’Keefe buried a pass from freshman Sierra Vadner at 2:46 to bring the game within one.

Over a period of eight minutes, the Raiders successfully killed off three straight penalties to control the closing minutes of the game. Late in the frame, Rensselaer pulled van der Bliek in favor of the extra attacker but was not able to convert with the man advantage, as Colgate skated away with the 3-2 final score.

Sass made 35 saves on the evening, while van der Bliek had 29 stops of her own in the loss.

“Throughout the entire game we were able to generate a lot of offense, but weren’t able to get the puck in the net,” explained Burke. “We had some unbelievable chances, but in the end, the game wasn’t in our favor.”

Saturday afternoon, the Engineers traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to face off against the Cornell Big Red. In another hard-fought game, RPI’s special teams let them down as Cornell took home the 3-2 victory, including a power play goal. The Big Red are now 9-8-2 overall and 5-5-2 in the ECAC.

“In the Cornell game, we did some great things offensively,” said Burke. “We missed an open net opportunity and had a lot of chances that just didn’t show on the scoresheet.”

Like Colgate the night before, Cornell came out strong with two quick first period goals to gain the lead. At 5:24, sophomore Karlee Overguard took a shot from right outside RPI’s crease. Van der Bliek was able to make the initial save; however, the puck deflected off her pads straight back to K. Overguard, who was able to flip it right back over van der Bliek’s shoulder for the tally. Freshmen Jess Martino and Chelsea Karpenko assisted on the play.

Nearly four minutes later, Cornell added their second of the day off a power play opportunity. Karpenko sent the puck to Martino, who was located on the offensive blue line. After a point-to-point pass to K. Overguard, who then ripped a slap shot through traffic, the puck deflected off twin sister Amber Overguard’s stick for the goal.

Similarly to the day before, RPI came back in the second to cut Cornell’s lead in half. Junior Allison Wright took a shot from the point but was stopped by junior goaltender Jenny Niesluchowski, who was unable to control the rebound. Freshman Alisa Harrison crashed the net and was able to send the puck past Niesluchowski for her seventh of the season.

“Defensively we were strong throughout this whole game,” said Burke. “We had a huge penalty kill where one of our defenders lost a stick, and between [senior] Melissa [Boik] and [J. Stewart] had four blocks to keep it at 2-1 game. Things like that are what helps a team keep things alive.”

Going into the third period still with the lead, Cornell sophomore Sam Wauer made a crisp breakout pass to classmate Rebecca Johnston, who then sent the puck to freshman Catherine White. Flying along the left boards, White deked through the RPI defense and faked a pass before sending a shot past van der Bliek’s shoulder for the eventual game-winner at 8:45.

Eight minutes later, RPI responded with their final goal of the weekend as freshman Jill Vandegrift netted her third of the year, with the assist going to sophomore Kendra Dunlop.

In the final six minutes of play, the Engineers peppered Niesluchowski with a wide array of shots during a power play opportunity, but were unable to send any past her.

“Our mental makeup for this weekend had been great. Despite losing both games we never gave up and were in there until the end,” said Burke.