The women’s hockey team continued their success over the weekend with a pair of wins against division rival Salve Regina. The Engineers kept the energy high, scoring early and often to put away the visiting Seahawks.
On Saturday, the women took 69 shots to take out Salve Regina. The Engineers’ pressure kept up through the first period, and the intensity paid off at 13:20, when Deanna Dougherty scored a shorthanded goal with help from Allison Malcolm and Katie Woodward. Three minutes later, Rensselaer found the goal again when Kristine DeRosa poked in a pass from Lauren Smith to extend the RPI lead to two. Allison Malcom scored the third goal of the period with just under 30 seconds remaining in the first period.
The Salve Regina defense held strong in the second period, but the RPI offense was too powerful. Woodward shot a puck over Seahawk goalie Kristin Suslowicz to put the Engineers up by four. Kari Rabatin capped off the scoring in the second with help from Christin Sauca and Meredith Langille.
The third period saw a continuation of Engineer dominated hockey. Dana Kerr pushed a goal at 3:32 into the period to make the score 6-0, and two minutes later, Sauca scored to extend the lead to seven. Sondra Sherman scored the eighth goal of the game, capitalizing on a Seahawk penalty. Bridget Rice tallied her first point of the game, and Dougherty capped off the scoring with her 10th goal of the year to push the score to 10-0.
All but two of the Engineer players tallied points in the game. Dougherty led the way with two goals, and several other players had three points. Goaltender Julie Vallarelli stopped all six shots that Salve Regina could muster en route to Rensselaer’s fourth shutout in a row.
On Sunday, the Engineers came flying out of the gate, scoring two goals in the first minute of the game. Sherman scored 26 seconds into the game, and 31 seconds later, Julie Welte snapped a shot into the goal with help from Woodward and Dougherty. The Rensselaer pressure stayed high, and four minutes later, Dougherty sailed a puck past the Salve goaltender to put the Engineers up by three.
Taylor Walker opened up the second period scoring when she pushed a puck into the goal, assisted by Colleen Bonner and Smith. Lane Dielwart took advantage of the undisciplined play of Salve, and scored a power play goal with help from Allyn Cooper and Langille. The Seahawks took another penalty, and Welte made them pay by one-timing a shot past the hapless goalie to put the Engineers up by six.
Salve held strong throughout the third period, but could not find the scoring ways. At 18:08, Dielwart scored her second power play goal of the game. The Salve Regina couch decided to pull their goalie to try to produce some offense, and half a minute later, their efforts appeared to pay off. However, their apparent goal was waved off since it was hit with a high stick. Sherman scored seconds later on the empty net, and the Engineers took the game 8-0. The good news kept coming for Rensselaer, as the RIT win over Manhattanville came over the loudspeakers seconds after their victory. The RPI win coupled with the Manhattanville loss meant a tie atop the ECAC division III east.
Rosina Schiff started the game for the Engineers, and stopped all nine shots she faced. The Engineers now have eight shutouts on the season, including five straight. They will face Manhattanville this weekend in a battle for first place. Friday’s game is at 7 pm, and Saturday’s matinee will be at 12:30.
