A dream came true as the women’s hockey team finished its first weekend at the Division I level undefeated with two thunderous wins over Sacred Heart. When the fans were finally done singing “Hail” for the final time on Sunday, voices were hoarse from the combined 15 goals scored by the women.
This weekend sweep of Sacred Heart was important for the team as they look to start off their D-I era with some wins. On Saturday, the team debuted with a 4-0 victory. Then, Sunday afternoon, they broke out with five goals in the first period, including a hat trick by junior Sarah Daniel, to set themselves up for the 11-1 blowout.
The exciting weekend sends the team forward with a modest attitude. As even Daniel, the team’s captain, knows, “We’re going to try to keep the momentum to go into next weekend, but it was great to start off the season with a couple of big wins.”
The long, rainy weekend kept many away, but inside Houston Field House, smooth ice and endless scoring made quite the show for the fans that showed. Especially Saturday night, the fans were quite impressive; the team comes to play no matter what, but the players all seemed to share Daniel’s thoughts: “It’s really nice to see all the support. We really appreciate it.”
Sunday’s game started with an aggressive RPI offense taking its first shot less than 20 seconds after the puck drop, and the intensity hardly let up for the rest of the game.
Six minutes in, Daniel scored her first goal on an assist by senior Julie Welte. Barely a minute later, she tucked another shot between the goalie’s legs. The next goal was messy, and after multiple rebounds, Welte finally put the puck in while Daniel and freshman Jaime Jacquard-Sowa were credited with assists. This was followed by a beautifully executed passing play from freshman Nicole McDonald to fellow first-year student Jamie-Lynn Stewart.
With under a minute left, Daniel went one-on-one with the goalie to finish her hat trick unassisted and in a single period. Head Coach John Burke said, “She did a great job ... she had a tremendous weekend.”
All told, by the end of the first period, Sacred Heart replaced goalie Stephanie Boulay with Sarah Perry and the complete domination by RPI was obvious. “It was good to get the scoring off quickly,” stated Daniel. In goal for RPI was freshman Emily Ford, who made 13 saves by the end of the night.
In the second period, quick whistles ended the skirmishes that had previously resulted in RPI goals. Eventually, sophomore standout Brooke Thompson broke away for a shot between the leg pads. Then Stewart hooked up with McDonald, who went high when the goalie dropped to block the shot.
The third period turned out to be sloppy, with Sacred Heart scoring its single goal of the game during one of the two-man advantage situations that RPI’s penalties provided. Burke didn’t seem too worried about the goal, saying, “[Sacred Heart] made a nice play ... [we] felt let down, and they responded.” And respond they did. Just one minute later, freshmen Melanie Guillemette and Emily Donowick connected to bring the final score to 11-1.
Before Sacred Heart’s goal, Jacquard-Sowa flipped in her own rebound. Then McDonald caught the goalie off guard with a long slap shot that came from a pass by Guillemette. What seemed like moments later, Donowick embarrassed Perry. She looked to pass but instead saw an opening and took a shot.
Saturday night’s game started off as a polar opposite to Sunday’s. The obvious difference was lack of goals until the second period. RPI’s control of the puck was a trend throughout the game; they were able to command the play but just couldn’t seem to finish.
Although RPI out-shot Sacred Heart 74-8, too many players were clogging up play in front of the net. This would continue with nearly the entire game played in Sacred Heart’s half. Senior goalie Rosina Schiff only needed five saves for the shutout.
In the second period, RPI had the puck again and it went from Guillemette to junior Ciara Libaridian to fellow junior Holly O’Donohue who finally put the puck into the net. The play started heating up and skaters were flying around the ice, but it wasn’t until about 20 seconds before the end of the period when a great shot by Guillemette that just kept rising flew right above Boulay’s glove. Donowick was credited with the assist.
Halfway through the third, McDonald looked back to see the puck sitting there from her rebounded shot and reached back to finish the job.
Then, in the last seconds of the game, Daniel broke with a pass from Welte and beat the goalie. Setting herself up for a huge first period the next day—which interestingly also started with a pass from Welte—Daniel faked several shots and at the last moment quickly tucked it in the lower stick side corner of the net.
Even coming off such a huge win, the team knows what’s in store for them when they face off against powerful Colgate, ranked sixth in the ECACHL, twice next weekend. Burke calls next weekend “a real test.” The top scorer for the undefeated Engineers, Daniel, evaluated the upcoming challenge, saying they “just need to take it one game at a time and we should do well.” The team plays at Colgate at 7 pm on Friday, and at Houston Field House at 7 pm on Saturday.
