Monday, December 1, 2014

Women's Hockey - RIT (28/29 Nov)

A return to action after a week off saw RPI host fellow tech school RIT, who they hadn't played for nine seasons since elevating to Division I, for a pair of non-conference games at Houston Field House. The Engineers came out strong on Friday night, skating to a 4-1 victory, but a sweep was not in the cards as they were shutout in Saturday afternoon's rematch by a 3-0 margin.

Friday

Horwood/Tomlinson/Svoboda
Mahoney/Gruschow/Raspa
Rooney/Mankey/Hylwa

Middlebrook/Schilter
Kimmerle/Behounek
Renn

O'Brien

A big first period had the Engineers ahead 3-1, and Kelly O'Brien put up 26 saves en route to her second win of the year as RPI beat RIT 4-1 on Friday night.

It was RIT scoring first on the night, with Lindsay Grigg banging home a rebound on the doorstep for the early 1-0 lead.

Shayna Tomlinson knotted it up near the midpoint of the period, taking a feed from Laura Horwood who had just won a puck battle along the back boards and putting it past goalie Brooke Stoddart.

Marisa Raspa tallied the game-winner at 16:20 of the period, when Stoddart misplayed a dump-in behind the net, allowing the Engineer freshman to poke the puck into a wide open net and give RPI the lead.

Ali Svoboda topped off the period for RPI with a power play goal at 18:53. The play was set up when Whitney Renn blocked a clearing attempt at the blue line, feeding the puck to Laura Horwood for a shot which was blocked by a sliding Tiger defenseman. The rebound was ripe for Svoboda to put top shelf and the shot was on target for a 3-1 lead.

After a second period which saw neither scoring nor penalties for either team, Taylor Mahoney scored an insurance goal late in the third, taking advantage of yet another rebound opportunity given up by Stoddart.

Though the shot tally finished deadlocked at 27, the Engineers had the best of the play despite playing with a short bench and looked to be in good position going into Saturday's game with several players returning to the lineup.

Saturday

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

Middebrook/Behounek
Kimmerle/Renn
Godin/Banks

O'Brien

More players on the bench didn't translate to a stronger performance for RPI on Saturday as they were shutout 3-0 by RIT at Houston Field House. Jetta Rackleff, taking over in net for Stoddard, earned her second shutout of the season in a 20-save effort.

The Tigers scored once in each period, with the first goal coming off the stick of Celeste Brown at 10:39 of the first. Brown's wrister beat O'Brien from the faceoff circle and Cassie Clayton picked up the assist with the pass that set Brown up to break into the zone.

Marissa Maugeri doubled the RIT lead late in the second period, putting a rebound past O'Brien after the RPI netminder stopped a breakaway a moment earlier.

Brown's second of the game put RIT ahead 3-0 at 11:27 of the third, and things got a little chippy in the game's closing minutes - including an odd pair of matching delay of game penalties called out of a scuffle that included some high cross-checks.

RPI will need to rediscover some offense next weekend as they close out the 2014 portion of the schedule at home against Brown and Yale. Both teams have had a hit-or-miss start to their season and hold a 1-3 record in ECAC play. With both opponents likely to feature in the lower half of the league standings, a pair of wins would go a long way to giving the Engineers a foothold into the playoff race.

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RPI vs. RIT
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/28/14 - 7:00pm
RPI 4, RIT 1

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenrit1.n28
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4436

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/11/28/WICE_1128143316.aspx
RIT: http://www.ritathletics.com/news/2014/11/28/WHOCKEY_1128142528.aspx
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW47PQ3MdgQ
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/872-womens-hockey-vs-rit

RECORD: 2-10-2 (0-4-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. RIT
Non-Conference Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
11/29/14 - 4:00pm
RIT 3, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wrenrit1.n29
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4437

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2014/11/29/WICE_1129142242.aspx
RIT: http://www.ritathletics.com/news/2014/11/29/WHOCKEY_1129144208.aspx
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/873-womens-hockey-vs-rit

RECORD: 2-11-2 (0-4-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Dec. 5 - Brown (7pm)
Dec. 6 - Yale (4pm)
Jan. 2 - Princeton (3pm)
Jan. 3 - Princeton (3pm)

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