Following a sweep of the Union College Dutchwomen this past weekend, the women’s hockey team has snuck into the top spot of the ECAC, shared with rival Dartmouth College. Saturday’s 3-0 shutout at the Houston Field House, and Sunday’s 2-1 victory in Schenectady, N.Y., now bring the Engineers’ record to 7-5-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the ECAC. Union remains winless, dropping to 0-13-1 overall and 0-6-0 in the conference.
“All the teams in the league are all so close to each other, every point counts,” said junior assistant captain Laura Gersten. “It was important we came out of the weekend with those four points.”
In their final home game of the semester, the Engineers tallied three goals in the opening frame in a one-sided matchup against the Dutchwomen, including a pair by Gersten.
All three of Rensselaer’s goals on the day were scored by defensemen taking a barrage of slap-shots from the point. Senior co-captain Melissa Boik netted her second goal of the season and the eventual game-winner past senior Union netminder Lundy Day at 13:27, to give RPI the 1-0 lead. Two minutes later, Gersten added her first of the night, when classmate Whitney Naslund received a pass from freshman Amanda Castignetti, and sent the puck cross-ice up to the point to the patient defenseman. The shot ripped past Day, who had no chance on the play. Closing out the period with less than three minutes remaining, junior Allison Wright passed the puck up to Castignetti on the point, who sent the puck across the blue line to Gersten. Day was unable to see the shot due to the traffic in front of the net, and Gersten buried her third of the season.
The Engineers continued to skate circles around the Dutchwomen for the remaining 40 minutes of play, but simply could not solve Day and place any more points on the board, including a five-on-three opportunity in the second period.
Heading down the street to Messa Rink at the heart of Union’s campus, the Engineers finished out their home-and-home series on top with a 2-1 decision over the Dutchwomen. Freshman right winger Jill Vandegrift netted both of RPI’s goals, which were also the first two of her collegiate career.
“It felt really good to score two goals on Sunday, my teammates really laid them out on a silver platter for me,” said Vandegrift. “All I had to do was put the puck in the net. I owe a lot of the credit to them.”
For the second night in a row, the Engineers peppered Day with a variety of shots, but none were able to find their way to the back of the net.
Midway through the second frame, at 9:16, Vandegrift tallied her first of the day. Freshman Katie Daniels made a decisive point-to-point pass to defensive partner Gersten, whose shot was tipped past Day by Vandegrift for the goal. “Jill has been a tremendous player these past few games, although it hasn’t shown on the score sheet. Those two goals were proof that hard work and perseverance pays off,” explained Head Coach John Burke.
Rensselaer held the one-goal lead until 7:51 of the third, when Union sophomore Callee Heywood sent a shot through the legs of an RPI defenseman, and past a screened van der Bliek. Unable to see the play in front of her, van der Bliek was powerless to stop the shot as the puck slid under her pads.
It didn’t take long for the Engineers to regain the lead, as Vandegrift added her second of the game at 15:05. Senior Jamie-Lynn Stewart grabbed a loose puck in the corner and passed to Vandegrift in the slot, who quickly riffled off a shot past Day for the game-winner.
“Offensively, we played hard and created many opportunities, and on the defensive side we were able to be dominate in our zone and kept their chances to a minimum,” explained Gersten. “Everyone contributed their part to the wins this weekend. It was a real team effort.”
This weekend, the Engineers take a break from conference play and head out to Moon Township, Penn., to face off against the Robert Morris University Colonials. A team with a very similar style of play to the Dutchwomen, the Engineers plan on using many of the same tactics against the College Hockey America opponent. Puck drop for both Friday and Saturday’s games will be at 7:35 pm.
