The Rensselaer women’s hockey team regained first place in the ECAC Division III East with a pair of impressive wins over Holy Cross on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
The Engineers exhibited total dominance in the first game. Julie Welte started the scoring for Rensselaer, tallying her 13th goal of the year with assists from linemates Julie Aho and Meredith Langille.
The top-scoring line for the Engineers struck again at 16:11, this time with Aho scoring from Welte. RPI goalie Rosina Schiff held strong in the first, stopping both Crusader shots.
Aho continued the RPI scoring in the second period, finding the net on a four on four at 5:43, again with help from Welte. Holy Cross’ Sarah Wetherbee took an undisciplined roughing penalty at 15:06. Although the Engineers’ power play could not capitalize, the RPI offense continued to swarm around the Crusader net and was rewarded at the 18:20 mark.
Freshman Sarah Daniel tallied her fourth goal of the year with an assist from Allison Malcom to extend the Engineer lead to four.
The RPI defense continued to play strong. The defense again allowed only two shots, with Schiff stopping both.
Katie Woodward and Daniel iced the game in the third period, scoring two goals in 29 seconds at the 13 minute mark.
Schiff stopped the three shots she saw in the third period and finished the game with seven saves and her fourth shutout of the season.
The Engineers looked for the sweep on Saturday afternoon. Welte again started the scoring for RPI, blasting a shot from the point through the Crusader defense to put the Engineers up 1-0.
Holy Cross took a penalty to start the second period, and the RPI power play capitalized.
Aho scored on a nifty move with help from Allyn Cooper and Langille at 5:17 in the second. Deanna Dougherty sliced through a pair of Holy Cross defenders at 13:32 and faked out Crusader goaltender Casey McCullion to score the third Engineer goal.
Holy Cross’ power play fired back after a Malcom elbowing penalty at 14:39. Wetherbee found the net with help from Molly Corkery to cut the Rensselaer lead to two.
Kari Rabatin scored the lone goal in the third period, with the assist going to Daniel.
The Engineer defense shut out the Crusaders for the remainder of the game, and the Engineers won 4-1.
Julie Vallarelli was solid in net for the Engineers, stopping 13 of 14 shots.
The Engineers now sit atop the conference, leading RIT and Manhattanville by two points.
These mext two weekends will be crucial for Rensselaer as they will host RIT and Manhattanville at the Field House. Friday night’s game against RIT will be at 7 pm; Saturday will feature a rematch at 3 pm.
