The RPI women’s hockey team took on a pair of newcomers to the ECAC Division III East last weekend, traveling to Castleton State and St. Anselm.
Friday nights’ contest against Castleton State saw the Engineers out-shoot the Spartans 71-4 en route to an 8-0 win.
Julie Aho opened up the scoring for RPI at 5:54 with help from Katie Temple. Julie Welte scored a four-on-four goal at 13:44 from an assist by Kelly Barbera.
Aho scored a pair of goals in the second period to put the Engineers up 4-0. Her first goal of the period came at 9:48, just 33 seconds before the RPI power play ended. She completed the hat trick at 18:58, scoring an even strength goal with help from Brooke Thompson.
The Engineers doubled up in the third period, scoring four goals on the over-matched Castleton State squad. Sarah Daniel tallied a quick goal 1:55 into the period to extend the Engineer lead to five.
Meredith Langille knotched her first goal of the year just after a Spartan penalty expired. Kari Rabatin, recently moved up from the blue line, continued the scoring spree 52 seconds later.
Daniel capped off the onslaught, scoring a shorthanded goal at 12:48 with help from Rabiatin.
Julie Vallarelli stopped all four shots she faced to earn the shut out in her first start of the season.
The Engineers traveled to St. Anselm to take on the Stans. Aho stole the show again, scoring her second hat trick in as many games to help RPI to the 4-2 victory.
Aho gave the Engineers the first lead of the game at 13:48 in the first, when she found the back of the net with help from Barbera.
St. Anselm’s Danille Campbell tied the game at one at 4:26 in the second period, putting a puck past RPI’s Rosina Schiff. Aho stole the lead back at 10:12, scoring a short handed goal with help from Thompson. The Engineers could not convert on a trio of Stans penalties at the end of the second period, and the game went into the third period with RPI up 2-1.
The Engineers extended their lead in the third period at 7:03, when Lane Dielwart scored an unassisted goal to put RPI up 3-1. Campbell scored her second goal of the game for St. Anselm at 11:54 to bring the Stans within one. Aho squashed any chance of a Stans comeback and completed her hat trick at 13:27 when she took a Barbera pass and buried it to put the Engineers up 4-2.
Schiff made 16 saves to earn her first win of the season.
Rensselaer traveled to face MIT Tuesday evening. RPI has handled MIT easily over the last several years. Final results were not posted at the time of publication.
The Engineers take on UMass.-Boston this weekend in their first home contests this year. Last season, the Beacons split with RPI, so the Engineers will be looking to sweep them back to Boston. Saturday’s game is at 7 pm, and Sunday’s contest starts at 3 pm.
