Following a one-season absence, the RPI women’s hockey team is heading back to the ECAC playoffs. With Friday’s 1-1 tie against the Yale University Bulldogs, the Engineers secured their place as one of the top eight teams in the ECAC. Saturday’s 2-1 victory over the Brown University Bears gave RPI a total of three points on the weekend, enough to pull out of a tie with Cornell University. In their previous playoff appearance in the 2006–07 season, the Engineers were eliminated in the first round as they fell to top-seeded Dartmouth College 3-6 and 1-3 in the best-of-three series.
RPI now sits at 14-13-4 overall on the season, and 9-8-3 in ECAC play. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Engineers can place as high as fourth in the conference, and no lower than eighth place.
“Last year, we lost both games in the Yale-Brown weekend, which cost us a playoff spot,” explained junior Whitney Naslund. “It felt great to not only clinch a playoff spot this past weekend, but to do it against the teams that took it from us last season.”
Despite being outshot 3-2 in Friday’s overtime session, the Engineers, backed by sophomore goaltending sensation Sonja van der Bliek, were able to hold on and maintain the tie. Naslund had the best opportunity of both teams in the extra frame, as she was able to sneak between Yale defenders for a breakaway opportunity. As the seconds ticked off the clock, sophomore Bulldog goalie Jackie Snikeris made a glove save on Naslund’s shot to finish the game.
Following a scoreless opening period, RPI sophomore Kendra Dunlop netted her sixth goal of the season at 4:20 of the second frame. Dunlop received a pass from freshman defenseman Sierra Vadner, and slid between two Yale defensemen to send the puck through Snikeris’ five-hole. Freshman Amanda Castignetti also assisted on the play. “Anytime I score a goal it feels great, especially in a game such as the one against Yale,” explained Dunlop. “Our whole team played well in this game; we all wanted the win pretty bad.”
The Bulldogs came back to tie the game at 6:28 of the third period. Freshman Heather Grant grabbed the puck in a pile-up in front of Rensselaer’s net after junior Berit Johnson was able to get the puck deep into the zone. Van der Bliek was unable to control the puck in the crease, and Grant knocked it in for the equalizer.
Van der Bliek stopped 16 shots on the night, while Snikeris made 19 saves, as both teams went 0-5 on the power play. Yale is now 9-15-1 on the season, and 5-12-1 in the ECAC, placing ninth and just shy of a playoff position in the conference.
Fueled by Friday’s performance at Yale, the Engineers dominated the 60 minutes of play against the Brown Bears, resulting in a 2-1 victory. Similar to the night before, the opening period of play remained scoreless for both teams. However, RPI came out firing in the second to take the lead.
Separated by a mere eight seconds, the Engineers scored two quick goals from their first line midway through the frame to pull ahead, 2-0. Junior Allison Wright got a pass from freshman Alisa Harrison at 9:20, and was able to bury it past Brown senior goalkeeper Nicole Stock for her seventh of the year. Naslund then netted her team-leading 12th goal of the season, as she corralled a puck off Harrison’s face-off win and sent it over Stock’s shoulder.
RPI’s leading line has yet to disappoint the team, as the combination of Naslund, Wright, and Harrison has combined for a total of 69 points in 31 games on the season. “I really enjoy playing with both Whitney and Alisa. We feel like we have good chemistry and play well together. However, we are always looking for ways to improve,” said Wright.
Over two periods of play, the Engineers were able to hold the Bears to only six shots on net. However, Brown came back in the third, outshooting RPI 11-4, with 10 of its shots coming in the final two minutes of play.
The only goal for the Bears came at 4:23 from sophomore Jenna Dancewicz. Classmate Samantha Stortini chipped a shot into traffic in front of RPI’s net. Dancewicz was able to deflect the puck mid-air past van der Bliek for the power play mark.
With 1:40 remaining in the game, Brown pulled Stock in favor of the extra attacker. In that timeframe, the Bears won five face-offs to van der Bliek’s immediate left, but that proved no challenge for the RPI netminder as she was able to turn away all 10 shots.
Stock made 23 saves on the afternoon, while van der Bliek blocked 15 of 16. Following the loss, Brown is now 10th in the ECAC with an overall record of 6-19-1, and 5-14-0 in the league.
The final two games for RPI this season will be special events for both the players and fans. Friday’s game against the Cornell University Big Red will be the second annual Pink at the Rink event. Pink at the Rink is the ECAC’s effort to support Coaches vs. Cancer and the American Cancer Society. Designed to raise funds for cancer research, Pink at the Rink will be highlighted by the specially designed pink uniforms the Engineers will wear against Cornell. The jerseys will then be auctioned off to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Puck drop is at 7 pm.
The final game of the regular season will be against the Colgate University Raiders, with the game beginning at 4 pm Saturday. The game also marks RPI women’s hockey Senior Appreciation Night, as six seniors and their families will be recognized for their contributions to the program over the past four seasons. Following the games, final placements in the ECAC will be definite, and the Engineers will learn of their playoff fate.
“When we travelled to Colgate and Cornell a few weeks ago, we had two very good, close games,” said Dunlop. “Although we lost both games by a goal, the games could have gone either way. We want to finish as high in the standings as possible, so we are going into this weekend with a lot of determination and excitement to win. We are a fast team, so we are going to use our speed to a great advantage and finish the regular season strong and go into playoffs with a lot of confidence and momentum.”
