The women’s ice hockey team held onto first place in the ECAC Division III East over the weekend with a pair of impressive wins over the RIT Tigers.
The Engineers’ special teams were stellar Friday night, and a pair of whistle-happy referees made sure that the special teams got their share of playing time.
RPI got their first power play of the game just 2:43 into the first, but could not convert. The Tigers caught a break when Brooke Thompson took a cross-checking penalty to negate the end of the power play.
The Tigers took another penalty at 5:20, and this time, the Engineers’ power play found the back of the net. Allison Malcolm fired a wrist shot from the point which slid under RIT goalie Breanna Dobbe at 6:34.
The penalties continued to pile up on both sides of the puck. Engineer co-captain Sondra Sherman took a smart tripping penalty, preventing a goal at 9:35. Just 36 seconds later, RIT’s power play ended when Tiger Becky Jaiven hauled down an Engineer with a hook. RIT got a quick four-on-three opportunity at the 10:46 mark, when Meredith Langille took a tripping penalty. The power plays all were for nothing, as the Engineers’ penalty killing was effective.
The referees’ whistles remained active in the beginning of the second period; RPI successfully killed off a pair of penalties by Katie Temple and Lane Dielwart and RIT killed a penalty by Sarah Wilson. RPI’s Bridget Rice took a boarding penalty at 17:10, and the Engineer penalty kill went to work once again. After a puck squirted out of the Engineers’ defensive zone, Thompson jumped on the puck and darted on a breakaway. She deked around Dobbe and roofed a shot for an unassisted, shorthanded goal.
RIT swarmed the net hard at the beginning of the third period, and their intensity out of the locker room paid dividends. RPI goaltender Rosina Schiff got a puck knocked out from under her glove and into the net. The Tigers’ goal, scored by Nicole Gedney, put RIT within one.
Julie Aho added an insurance goal at 11:11 with help from Kelly Barbera to put the Engineers up 3-1. Despite RIT’s best efforts, they could not solve Schiff again, and the game ended 3-1.
Schiff made 21 saves in her fifth win of the season. The Engineers got out-shot for only the second time this season, tallying 21 shots to RIT’s 22.
The Engineers did not mess around with the Tigers on Saturday, beating RIT 4-1.
The first period ended in a 0-0 tie with only one penalty going to RPI’s Dielwart. The second was dominated by the RPI offense.
After an RIT penalty at 3:04, the Engineer power play went to work on the tired Tiger defense. Aho tallied her second goal of the weekend at 4:20 with the assist going to Kari Rabatin.
Thompson found the back of the net at 6:31 to put the Engineers up 2-0. She pushed the lead up to 3-0 three minutes later, off assists from Allie Cooper and Ellen McNamara. The period was not all scoring for Thompson, though; she took penalties at 12:50 and 19:35.
The Tigers finally found the net on the second of Thompson’s infractions. With the score 3-1 and just over four minutes left, Aho capped off the victory with a goal from Rabatin and Barbera.
Schiff earned her second win in as many days with 16 saves. The Engineer power play was one for two on Saturday and two for eight this weekend.
The Engineers are off until January 8, when they travel to Manhattanville to take on the Valiants. Manhattanville is RPI’s main competitor in the league, and currently sits in second place in the league with an 8-0-0 league record.
