Manhattanville came to RPI riding a 15-game unbeaten streak. Rosina Schiff ushered the Valiants out with one of the greatest athletic performances in recent memory.
The Manhattanville Valiants started the weekend in second place in the ECAC Division III East, even though they were ranked first in the nation.
The Valiants swarmed around the RPI net from the start of the game, and their tenacious forechecking stifled the Engineer puck movement preventing Rensselaer from starting their offense.
The Valiants found the net first. At the 7:21 mark, Cherie Stewart beat Schiff on her right side up high. Jesse Garner assisted on the goal.
Manhattanville continued their intense forechecking effort, and they pinned RPI deep behind their own goal.
The hard work down low paid off quickly for Manhattanville as Melissa Hawkins took advantage of an RPI turnover and fired a puck off an Engineer defender past Schiff. Meredith Callinan and Jessica Temesy assisted on the second Valiant goal at 11:55.
In the last five minutes of the first, the Engineers finally got the puck deep in the Valiants’ zone. The RPI pressure paid off a minute later, when freshman Sarah Daniel deked her way in toward the Manhattanville goalie, Renee Kirnan. Daniel fired a puck top shelf past Kirnan’s glove to put the Engineers within one.
With just two minutes left in the period, Daniel got away from the Manhattanville defense, but the defenders caught her from behind to deny her on the breakaway. The Engineers went into the period break down 2-1.
Manhattanville started the second period with a good scoring opportunity, but Schiff responded with a better save. Rensselaer’s Julie Welte took a tripping penalty at 18:22; the Engineers’ penalty kill held strong, and with 22 seconds left in the Welte penalty, RPI forward Bridget Rice broke away from the back, but fired the shot wide of the net.
Rensselaer’s Allyn Cooper gave Manhattanville their second power play of the game. The Engineer defense again held strong, forcing the Valiants into an icing penalty.
Manhattanville got another pair of chances at 14:40, but Schiff made the saves.
The Engineers drew another Valiant penalty at 1:18 and were given a five on three opportunity 30 seconds later when Darcie Jarvis took a checking penalty. RPI could not convert before the second period ended, but looked to the 43 seconds of carry over into the third period.
The Engineers failed to find the net on the remainder of the penalty, despite several good chances, and looked for an opportunity to tie the game. Manhattanville took another holding penalty, but the Rensselaer power play could not get set up.
In an attempt to slow the speed of the game, the Valiants started to ice the puck more in the third. RPI took advantage of the offensive zone draws, and took several good shots, but Kirnan came up big for the Valiants, stopping the Engineers.
The RPI power play got another opportunity to beat Kirnan with 4:17 remaining in the game when Jarvis took a hitting from behind penalty. Rensselaer got a good deflection on net at 3:57, but could not beat the Valiant goalie.
RPI could not find the net on the power play or in the few remaining minutes and the tightly contested game ended in a 2-1 Valiants’ victory.
Saturday’s game featured a defensive battle as the defenses of both teams came to play. Manhattanville started swarming around the RPI net from the opening face-off, but Schiff came up with several enormous saves.
Lane Dielwart took a cross-checking penalty at 12:25, and the Engineer penalty kill was strong on the heels of a great Daniel forechecking effort.
The Engineers and Valiants skated without scoring in the first period, but Manhattanville out shot RPI 22-9.
Rensselaer started the second period with the pressure up, but the momentum was killed when senior Maj Nixon took a checking penalty. The Engineers held up the Valiants’ power play in the neutral zone, and Schiff provided a good defensive foundation as RPI killed the penalty.
At 8:41, Meredith Langille was called for an interference, and a minute later, the referee sent RPI’s Kari Rabatin and Manhattanville’s Hawkins on matching hitting after the whistle penalties. Senior Katie Woodward kept the Valiants deep in their own zone with a great fore checking effort, and Schiff made key saves to kill the penalty.
Manhattanville’s Temesy took a roughing penalty at 11:58, and the Engineer power play finally capitalized. Julie Aho fired a shot on Manhattanville goalie Nicole Elliot. Elliot made the initial save, but left a juicy rebound for Welte to backhand into the net. Langille tallied the other assist on the power play goal at 13:00.
Dielwart took another checking penalty at 16:00. The Engineers were on their way to another penalty kill when Manhattanville’s Hawkins took an interference penalty at 17:58. The Engineer power play could not find the net again, and RPI went into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.
Manhattanville continued to out shoot the Engineers dramatically, putting 22 shots on the board in the second for a two period total of 42.
The Engineers turned up the fore checking pressure in the third, and their stifling defense paid off.
Woodward and Daniel got several good chances as RPI controlled the play for the first half of the period.
Manhattanville got their first real scoring chance at 11:09, with Schiff stoning a Valiant forward on the breakaway.
The Valiants swarmed around the net and almost tied the game with two and a half minutes remaining. Schiff covered a puck that was floating dangerously close to the goal line to deny the Valiants.
After a Schiff save and cover, Manhattanville took their timeout. They could not manage to pull their goalie until there was just 33 seconds remaining. The Engineers iced the puck, but the whistle blew with just 1.4 seconds remaining. Rensselaer took their timeout, then came out and won the draw and the game.
Schiff tallied her fifth shutout of the season, stopping 54 shots on Saturday and 91 for the weekend.
“I knew the team was giving 100 percent, so I wanted to give them 110 percent,” remarked Schiff. “We knew what we had to do, and we did it.”
With the split, the Engineers retained first place in the ECAC D-III East. The shutout victory was enough to propel RPI to eighth in the national polls.
The Engineers take to the road for the rest of the season, traveling to Salve Regina, UMass-Boston, and Williams. Next weekend’s games are against Salve Regina on Saturday and Sunday, both games start at 2 pm.
