The women’s hockey team lost a pair of conference games this weekend, dropping them into fifth place in the ECAC-East and virtually assuring that the Engineers will start the playoffs on the road.
RPI played Manhattanville, the number two team in the nation, on Saturday and narrowly lost by a 2-1 score.
The Valiants got on the board early on a goal by Emily Duer, but the visiting Engineers kept the Manhattanville scoring machine off the board for almost two full periods after that. RPI, however, could not find the back of the net either—the Engineers outshot the Valiants 12-10 in the second period but came away with nothing to show for it.
RPI finally broke through just as the third period began, controlling the puck off of the draw and penetrating the Manhattanville zone, where Julie Durham set up Deanna Dougherty for the Engineers’ lone goal. The Valiants did not allow RPI to build on that goal, though—Cherie Stewart struck back 25 seconds later to put the Valiants back in front. Though RPI had two power-play chances later in the third, Manhattanville’s defense was stellar, holding the Engineers to only five shots in the period to hold on for the win.
Sunday’s match against Sacred Heart was key; a win by the Engineers would leave the teams tied for fourth place in the conference, with RPI holding the tiebreaker by dint of their 6-1 win earlier this season.
The Pioneers, however, came out shooting, scoring just 22 seconds into the contest. RPI’s Christin Sauca tied it up late in the first period, but Sacred Heart struck back a minute later to reestablish the lead.
The Engineers pounded the Pioneers’ Kimberly Derleth with 18 shots in the second period, but the only goal came from Sacred Heart’s Rori Jean at 12:28 mark; it proved to be the game winner.
Julie Durham cut the lead back to a single goal with an unassisted power-play goal with 11 minutes remaining in the contest, but Derleth kept the Engineers out of the net after that. The Pioneers picked up two more goals late in the match to come away with a 5-2 win and sole possession of fourth place in the conference.
RPI has two games remaining in the regular season, both at home. The Engineers play Southern Maine Friday night and winless MIT on Saturday afternoon.
