Women's Hockey - St. Cloud State (7/8 Nov)

A quick return to non-conference play after just a week of ECAC action saw RPI host St. Cloud State for a pair at Houston Field House. Though the Huskies have traditionally struggled in a strong WCHA, they took it to the Engineers, picking up a 3-2 win on Friday before dominating their hosts on Saturday in a 3-0 shutout.

Friday

Mahoney/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Horwood/Wash/Renn
Rooney/Mankey/Walsh
Hylwa/Raspa

Kimmerle/Schilter
Behounek/Banks
Middlebrook/Godin

Piper

A shorthanded goal in the second period was the difference on Friday as St. Cloud State picked up a 3-2 victory over RPI at Houston Field House.

A back-and-forth first period saw the teams tied at two after twenty minutes before the shorty by Abby Ness put St. Cloud on top in the second.

Molly Illikainen scored first, taking a turnover at the RPI blue line to skate in alone and put one past Brianna Piper, while also drawing a penalty by being hooked on the attempt.

The ensuing power play saw St. Cloud double the lead to 2-0, as Lauren Hespenheide cleanly beat Piper on a wrist shot from the faceoff dot just 23 seconds after the Huskies' first goal.

Lauren Wash cut the deficit to 2-1 at 13:42, picking up a rebound of a point shot from Kathryn Schilter and snaking a shot through traffic for the goal.

Ali Svoboda tied things up 1:41 later, taking a nice drop pass from Shayna Tomlinson and beating Julie Friend with a monster slapshot to make it 2-2.

Abby Ness picked up the shorthanded game-winner in the second after being sprung on a breakaway by Illikainen. A quick deke to Piper's left and she put it over the pads to take a 3-2 lead.

Though the Huskies took three straight penalties late in the second and early in the third, the RPI power play (clicking at an unfathomably low 3.0%, at 2-for-66) did not capitalize, and St. Cloud hung on for the 3-2 win.

Saturday

Mahoney/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Horwood/Wash/Renn
Rooney/Mankey/Walsh
Hylwa/Raspa

Kimmerle/Schilter
Behounek/Banks
Middlebrook/Godin

O'Brien

While Friday's game was a fairly close affair, a switch seemed to turn off for the Engineers overnight as Saturday's game was one of their worst in recent memory. An inability to keep control of the puck or get any pucks to the net resulted in a 3-0 SCSU shutout in which RPI mustered just eight shots over three periods.

Lexi Slattery gave the Huskies the early lead at 8:33 of the first period, poking home a rebound for a power play goal.

Vanessa Spataro made it 2-0 at 11:21 of the second, skating down ice 1-on-1 but still managing to put a precise shot over the shoulder of Kelly O'Brien for the goal.

An RPI penalty shortly after Spataro's goal put SCSU back on the man advantage, and though they didn't officially score on the power play, Illikainen's tally six seconds after it expired may as well have been a power play goal, a rebound put into the back of the net before RPI could get the fifth skater back into the zone.

The RPI power play went 0-11 over the weekend and the lack of offense has gone from being troublesome to downright serious as the ECAC schedule is about to hit full stride. While the Engineers have struggled with the injury bug in this young season, the lack of potent offensive weapons has the potential to handicap RPI for the season.

The Engineers next hit the road for games against Quinnipiac and Princeton. Quinnipiac has roared out to a 7-0-1 start, while is 4-1-1. Both look to pose a challenge for the struggling Engineers as they look for their first ECAC victory of the season.

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RPI vs. St. Cloud State
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/7/14 - 3:00pm
SCSU 3, RPI 2

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenstc1.n07
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4432

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/11/7/WICE_1107145311.aspx
SCSU: http://www.scsuhuskies.com/news/2014/11/7/WHOCKEY_1107144027.aspx
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McMf7eXSYr0
Complete Game Video: http://www.rpitv.org/productions/855

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

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RPI vs. St. Cloud State
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/8/14 - 3:00pm
SCSU 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenstc1.n08
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4433

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/11/8/WICE_1108140827.aspx
SCSU: http://www.scsuhuskies.com/news/2014/11/8/WHOCKEY_1108142151.aspx
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmXx7z_C1tg
Complete Game Video: http://www.rpitv.org/productions/856

RECORD: 1-8-2 (0-2-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Nov. 14 - at Quinnipiac (7pm)
Nov. 15 - at Princeton (4pm)
Nov. 28 - RIT (7pm)
Nov. 29 - RIT (4pm)