Friday night brought one of the Engineers’ most challenging rivals to town: the Big Green. A team Rensselaer has always strived to do well against, the opening 20 minutes of play were not indicative of the final outcome of the game. Dartmouth finished the night with eight goals—six on the power play—four of which were scored by sophomore Amanda Trunzo.

RPI opened up the game with the only goal of the first period of play as junior Allysen Weidner netted her seventh of the season, with assists going to seniors Jaime-Lynn Stewart and Nicole McDonald.

Dartmouth came back with four goals in the second frame to pull ahead 4-1. Freshmen Kelly Foley and Reagan Fischer had goals within two minutes of each other to gain the lead. Rensselaer freshman Jill Vandegrift scored to tie the game up at two, with 10 minutes remaining in the period. Trunzo scored back-to-back goals to end the period 4-2, as each of her goals were assisted by seniors Maggie Kennedy and Shannon Bowman.

Fischer added her second goal of the game at 4:17 in the third period to pull the Big Green ahead 5-2. Six minutes later, Kennedy earned a playmaker as she tallied her third assist of the night by intercepting a pass and sending the puck to Trunzo, who scored a hat trick goal on the breakaway play. Minutes later, Trunzo added her fourth goal of the game while on the power play to place Dartmouth’s eighth goal on the board.

Rensselaer rallied with less than three minutes remaining on the clock to cut the deficit by two. Senior captain Melissa Boik sent a pass from the point to junior Whitney Naslund in the slot for RPI’s third goal of the night. Freshman Alisa Harrison netted one more with 40 seconds remaining on the clock, but RPI could not close the gap, as Dartmouth skated home with the win.

“That was a rough game, but two goals for us in the last five minutes showed some heart,” said Weidner. “We kept going until the final buzzer, even though the scoreboard showed differently.”

Big Green senior goaltender Carli Clemis made 23 saves on the night, and sophomore Sonja van der Bliek had 29 stops before being relieved by senior Emily Ford with nine minutes remaining in regulation. Ford made three saves during her time in net.

With the win, Dartmouth moved up a position in the national polls and is now 13-6-2 overall and 10-3-2 in the ECAC.

Earlier in the year, the Engineers pulled off a 1-1 tie against the Crimson, a team that remained undefeated in conference play and went without a loss through the majority of the season. Saturday afternoon, Rensselaer fell behind quickly, but made a strong comeback before ultimately being edged by Harvard 5-4. The Crimson are now 10-7-3 overall and 10-4-2 in the ECAC.

Trailing 4-1 after two periods of play, the Engineers rallied with three goals in the third, including two by Boik to pull within one by the end of regulation. Harvard placed first on the board as junior Anna McDonald scored an unassisted goal, stealing the puck off the stick of an RPI defender and sending it top shelf over van der Bliek at 8:22 of the first.

Senior captain Sarah Vaillancourt added a goal at 15:08 of the first, and another at 14:17 of the second, to put the Crimson ahead 4-0. Sophomore Leanna Coskren also had a goal in the second frame.

With only 13 seconds remaining in the second, Harrison scored her 10th goal of the season to put RPI on the board at 4-1. “I had a lot of open ice, and both teams were on a line change, so I knew I had to get it deep into their zone,” explained Harrison. “I skated it in and the opportunity for a shot on net presented itself, so I took it. One of the great things about our team is that we never give up. We all knew it would just take one goal to get us back in the game.”

A minute into the third frame, Boik blasted a slap shot from the point through traffic and past junior goaltender Christina Kessler for her first of the game. Weidner and freshman Katie Daniels assisted on the play as well.

Unhappy with the comeback, Harvard added their final goal of the game—and the eventual game-winner—when sophomore Laura Ryabkina sent the puck over the shoulder of van der Bliek at 3:49.

The Engineers were not out of the game, however, as junior Allison Wright scored her sixth goal of the season, taking a point-to-point pass from freshman Sierra Vadner, and sending the puck backdoor over the reach of Kessler to cut the lead.

With two minutes remaining in play, the Engineers pulled van der Bliek in favor of the extra skater. Sophomore Kendra Dunlop won the face-off and settled the puck before chipping it over to Stewart. The forward sent the puck up to Boik on the point, who ripped another slap shot through traffic in front of the net and past Kessler for her second of the night, and to pull the game within one.

“Everyone on the team does their jobs, like making passes, getting screens, getting shots to the net, being in position, and working together,” explained Boik. “That’s what helped us get back in that game, nothing special about my play specifically.”

Despite a strong effort in the final minutes of play, the Engineers were not able to tie the game up, and the Crimson returned home to Cambridge, Mass. with another victory. “We had some good opportunities throughout the third period; we just didn’t finish, and that could have been the difference making play for that fifth goal,” said Harrison.

This weekend, Rensselaer hits the road as they head up to the North Country to face the St. Lawrence University Saints and the Clarkson University Golden Knights. The games begin at 3:30 pm on Friday and 2 pm on Saturday, respectively. In the teams’ previous meetings just two weeks ago, the Engineers defeated the Golden Knights 2-1, but lost to the Saints 5-3. “It definitely works to our advantage playing these teams again so recently,” said Weidner. “It is fresh in our heads what it takes to beat these two teams. We need to win these two games this weekend, and I think as a team, we know what it is going to take and are ready for the challenge.”

RPI remains tied for seventh place in the ECAC. With a pair of wins, the Engineers could bump up a few places in the standings and secure home ice advantage in the playoffs in the upcoming weeks. “In this ECAC this year, there is no way of predicting the outcome of any game, but I know that we have the capability of winning any game we go into,” said Boik.

Harrison agreed: “The emotions from the Clarkson and St. Lawrence games are still pretty fresh in our minds, so we will definitely be pumped up for the games this weekend. If we play our game both games, there is no reason we can’t come away with two wins on the weekend.”