Sunday, November 6, 2011

Women's Hockey - St. Lawrence & Clarkson (4/5 Nov)

With this weekend marking the final ECAC games at Houston Field House until after the new year, it would have behooved RPI to pick up a few points, but instead they dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions to the North Country duo to drop to 0-3-1 in ECAC play. Meanwhile, elsewhere this weekend in the bizarro-ECAC, Union picked up a win over Clarkson and a tie against St. Lawrence, earning three more points than the Engineers while playing the same teams.

St. Lawrence

Cox/Harrison/Vandegrift
Smelker/Guillemette/Horton
Sanders/Mahoney/Svoboda
Letuligasenoa

Vadner/Castignetti
Le Donne/Schilter
Walsh/Marzario

O'Brien

An extra attacker goal by the Engineers at the 18:48 mark of the third period was not enough to recover from a 2-0 deficit, as St. Lawrence held on for a 2-1 victory while outshooting RPI 32-25.

The first period went without scoring, but not without opportunities as RPI and SLU traded power play opportunities, including over a minute of 5-on-3 time for the Engineers. Offensive troubles continued to plague RPI however, with the Engineers not able to capitalize on any of their first period power play opportunities, nor did they on either of their second period chances.

It was St. Lawrence who opened up the scoring extremely early in the second period, as Rylee Smith slid a pass across the crease for a tap-in by Kelly Sabatine just 23 seconds into the frame. That score would hold through the second intermission despite heavy pressure from the Engineers, who outshot the visiting Saints by a 13-6 margin in the period.

That shot margin was almost exactly flip-flopped in the final period as SLU held a 13-5 edge of their own. Jordan Smelker took a pair of penalties in the period, and Vanessa Emond capitalized on the second, with a very similar goal to the Saints' first, thanks to a feed through the crease from Ellie Williams.

RPI netminder Kelly O'Brien headed to the bench with about 2:30 left in regulation, and the Engineers made use of the extra attacker time, with Eleeza Cox scoring her first collegiate goal with 1:12 left in the period. RPI called its timeout just after and kept the net empty for the rest of the game, but was unable to draw even as SLU's Caitlyn Lahonen picked up her second win of the season while O'Brien dropped to 2-4-0.

Clarkson

Smelker/Guillemette/Horton
Cox/Harrison/Vandegrift
Sanders/Mahoney/Svoboda
Letuligasenoa

Castignetti/Vadner
Le Donne/Schilter
Walsh/Marzario

Piper

Saturday's game played out quite similarly to Friday's, with early second period and mid-third period goals for Clarkson before an extra attacker goal got RPI back into the game before falling short in another 2-1 loss.

Danielle Skirrow notched the Clarkson goal in the second period, taking a pass from Shelby Nisbet and skating across the front of the net to beat Brianna Piper at 2:42.

Vanessa Plante doubled the Golden Knights' lead at 13:56 of the third, firing a booming slapshot from the faceoff circle which beat Piper through traffic.

Once again, Coach Burke pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, but this time it came even earlier when Clarkson's Kali Gillanders took a tripping call with 5:07 left in regulation. The Engineers won the ensuing faceoff back to Sierra Vadner, who traded the puck back and forth with Andie Le Donne before firing a shot from the point which Laura Guillemette tipped past Erica Howe just eight seconds into the power play to draw within a goal.

The Engineers would play with the empty net again for the final half minute of the game, but it would turn out that the RPI goal would be their only shot in an offense-starved third period. In all, the Engineers managed just 14 shots - eight of which came in the first period.

With the loss, the Engineers fall to 2-7-3, and 0-3-1 in the ECAC - certainly not the start anyone hoped for with a four game homestand to open the league schedule. RPI now hits the road for a weekend at Brown and Yale before jumping back to two weekends of nonconference games at home, including a pair against #1 Wisconsin - who is 11-1 and has outscored its opponents 61-17 to date. Check the RPI Athletics website later in the week for links to video for the games; Without a Peer will have scoring updates as usual on Twitter.

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RPI vs. St. Lawrence
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/4/11 – 7:00pm
SLU 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:

RECAPS:

RECORD: 2-6-3 (0-2-1 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Clarkson
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/5/11 – 3:00pm
Clarkson 2, RPI 1

BOX SCORES:

RECAPS:

RECORD: 2-7-3 (0-3-1 ECAC)

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Upcoming Games

Nov. 11 - at Brown (7pm)
Nov. 12 - at Yale (4pm)
Nov. 18 - Wisconsin (7pm)
Nov. 19 - Wisconsin (4pm)
Nov. 25 - Syracuse (7pm)
Nov. 26 - Syracuse (4pm)

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