Engineers breakdown against Big Red but rally for Raiders

The Engineers fell to Cornell last Friday, getting outpaced and outshot by the No. 4 ranked team in the nation. Engineer goalkeeper Reese Keating made 38 saves, but it was not enough to keep Rensselaer in the game with just 10 shots on the Cornell goal.

Cornell took a total of 42 shots on goal in the game, outpacing the Engineers in every period by at least double the attempts. Despite this, Keating held Cornell to a scoreless first period, with 16 saves in the net. The Big Red held off any chance of Rensselaer scoring with a dominant defensive formation, pressuring the Engineers out of several puck possessions despite losing more than half of their faceoffs.

Cornell eventually netted their first goal halfway through the second period, taking advantage of a crack in the Rensselaer defense for a one-on-one faceoff with Keating. Two more Cornell goals came from similar opportunities, one afforded by a Cornell power play. Keating still made 11 saves in the period to the Cornell goalkeeper’s 3, but the final period saw the Engineers down 3-0.

Unfortunately, Rensselaer’s luck would fail to improve against the domineering Big Red offense. Although the Engineer defense held them to a game low of 12 shots on goal, the Engineers still allowed for one more Big Red scoring opportunity, which Cornell capitalized on in a clear shot at the Rensselaer net. The Engineers had a few more opportunities to score, including a scoring opportunity for Ellie Kaiser but were unable to make a comeback or even reach the scoreboard. The final score of the game remained 4-0.

The Engineers put forward a much better performance the following day against No. 5 ranked Colgate, beating them 3-2 in overtime. The first period began with RPI looking disjointed; they showed effort by being able to control possession of the puck initially but were unable to convert on the many opportunities they were given. Players whiffing on the puck, transition plays being poorly executed, and a general inability to take advantage of penalties committed by Colgate. This led to Colgate eventually being able to take control of the game with a score halfway through the period, and it seemed like that got the Engineers stuck; they were unable to answer and headed into the second period down 0-1.

The second period started with more of the same; more shots failing to go in, the players seemed out of sync with each other, unable to connect on basic passes to each other. However, the defense was stout, holding Colgate to only five shot attempts for the period and allowing no goals. Something had to give, and nearly fifteen minutes in, Meg Hildner came through to score on the clean up of a broken transition play and put the Engineers on the board, tying the game at one apiece. Despite their initial poor play, RPI had set themselves up to win the game heading into the third period, score all even.

The Engineers earned themselves a penalty to start the third, leading to an immediate Colgate score to put them down 1-2. RPI followed this up with another penalty, putting in a tough spot with time running off the clock, forced to defend their own goal as opposed to attempting to tie the game. Once the players on the ice evened out, RPI came back in full force, launching shots left and right and battling like their lives depended on it. Sure enough, they were able to break through, with Ellie Kaiser scoring on a successful transition play off the assist from Natalie Tulchinsky. The final five minutes were a slugfest, both teams battling to the end, neither team able to break the tie, sending the game into overtime.

Overtime was short and sweet: two and a half minutes in, Natalie Tulchinsky scored to win the game and give RPI their first lead after playing from behind all afternoon. It was a hard-fought victory for the Engineers, beating Colgate 3-2. The game was followed by honoring the players in their final year on the team.

After the weekend, Rensselaer now stands at a 13-16-3 record for the season. Their next game will be this Friday at Quinnipiac. Click here for the Cornell box score and here for the Colgate box score.