Women's Hockey - Princeton & Quinnipiac, Providence (2/3 Jan and 6 Jan)

A long holiday break drew to a close with RPI hosing Princeton and Quinnipiac before a quick turnaround for a Tuesday night matchup with Providence. After splitting the weekend with a 4-3 win over Princeton on Friday and a 1-0 loss to Quinnipiac on Saturday, they rounded out the three game set with a 3-3 tie on Tuesday afternoon against Providence.

Princeton

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

Kimmerle/Godin
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Katie Rooney tallied a pair of goals, with Ali Svoboda and Marisa Raspa each adding a goal as RPI picked up a 4-3 win over Princeton at Houston Field House on Friday afternoon.

Kelly O'Brien earned her third win of the season with 30 saves as the Tigers outshot RPI 33-21.

The Engineers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early on, with Svoboda tipping a point shot from Amanda Kimmerle past Kimberly Newell just 24 seconds in to make it 1-0, and Rooney somehow managing to carry the puck through three defenders and past a surprised Newell to extend the lead to 2-0 just over two minutes later.

Princeton went on to knot things up through the middle of the first period, with Hilary Lloyd scoring twice to make it a 2-2 game. Her first goal came early on a power play as she put a rebound past O'Brien to make it 2-1. The second came when RPI failed to clear a puck from their defensive zone. Jamie McDonell took it away and fed it across the slot for an easy one-timer by Lloyd.

Rooney gave RPI the lead once again at 15:52 of the opening frame, finally putting one home after a series of rebounds given up by Newell.

The Engineers' lead disappeared again in the second when Molly Contini scored for the Tigers, but the game wasn't tied for long as Raspa converted a nice 2-on-1 feed from Alexa Gruschow to give RPI the 4-3 lead.

RPI was outshot 12-3 in the third period as they clung to the one-goal lead, but O'Brien made it hold up to help RPI start out 2015 in the win column.

Quinnipiac

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

Kimmerle/Godin
Banks/Schilter
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

Despite being massively outshot to the tune of 34-8 by Quinnipiac, Kelly O'Brien put up a strong performance and limited the Bobcats to a single goal but the Engineers couldn't get one of their own, falling 1-0 on Saturday.

The game was most lopsided in the first period where the Engineers were outshot 15-1. Despite having to kill a pair of penalties in the first and another midway through the second, RPI held Quinnipiac at bay until 15:12 of the middle frame when Nicole Connery beat a pair of Engineers in a rush down ice and a defensive miscue left Taylar Cianfarano charging the net for the feed from behind the net and a shot that O'Brien had little chance at stopping.

While RPI's play picked up as the game went on, the Engineers failed to score on Quinnipiac netminder Chelsea Laden, who picked up her team record-setting 10th shutout of the season with the 1-0 victory.

Providence

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

Banks/Schilter
Kimmerle/Godin
Middlebrook/Behounek

Piper

RPI held 2-0 and 3-1 leads but couldn't hold on to them, eventually settling for a 3-3 tie against Providence at Houston Field House on Tuesday afternoon. Ali Svoboda scored a shorthanded goal and Brianna Piper put up 27 saves to earn the tie.

Another early goal got the Engineers on the board as Shayna Tomlinson snuck through the defense for a tap-in on a feed from Jenn Godin along the boards.

Mariana Walsh made it 2-0 late in the frame, capitalizing on a turnover by the Friars to fire one past Sarah Bryant after a stretch of good pressure from the Engineers.

Providence cut the lead in half in the second period, with Beth Hanrahan scoring thanks to a play that was significantly offside but not detected by the officials. Brooke Simpson was a solid four feet offside then proceeded to interfere with Mari Mankey, helping clear the way for Hanrahan to skate down the far side and beat Piper to put the Friars on the board.

RPI regained the two-goal cushion early in the third on Svoboda's shorthanded tally. The play was set up when a Providence player slid the puck back into the defensive zone toward netminder Bryant, who misplayed it and put it right onto Svoboda's stick for the tally.

Providence erased the RPI lead as the third wore on, with Madison Sansone putting home a one-timer off a feed from Hanrahan on a waved-off icing at 8:19 before Hanrahan scored her second of the night (figuring in all three goals) at 15:07, firing a soft shot through the defense who may have screened Piper on the play.

The teams traded seven shots in overtime but neither was able to pick up the winner and the Engineers settled for a tie in their final non-conference game of the season.

The extended home stand draws to a close for RPI next weekend as they host Dartmouth at 7pm Friday and Harvard at 4pm Saturday before taking to the road for the first time since mid-November.

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RPI vs. Princeton
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/2/15 - 3:00pm
RPI 4, Princeton 3

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprnren1.j02
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4440

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/2/WICE_0102153743.aspx
Princeton: http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209830846
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H55-lpHmp8k
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/883-womens-hockey-vs-princeton

RECORD: 4-12-2 (2-5-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Quinnipiac
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/3/15 - 3:00pm
QU 1, RPI 0

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wquiren1.j03
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4441

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/3/WICE_0103151400.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wice/2014-15/releases/201501032xxxu8
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg9pATS2RBY
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/884-womens-hockey-vs-quinnipiac

RECORD: 4-13-2 (2-6-0 ECAC)

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RPI vs. Providence
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/6/15 - 4:00pm
RPI 3, Providence 3

BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1415/boxes/wprvren1.j06
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=4442

RECAPS:
RPI: http://rpiathletics.com/news/2015/1/6/WICE_0106152722.aspx
Providence: http://www.friars.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/010615aaa.html
Complete Game Video: http://rpitv.org/productions/888-womens-hockey-vs-providence-college

RECORD: 4-13-3 (2-6-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Schedule

Jan. 9 - Dartmouth (7pm)
Jan. 10 - Harvard (4pm)
Jan. 16 - at St. Lawrence (7pm)
Jan. 17 - at Clarkson (4pm)

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ECAC Standings

1. Quinnipiac - 20 pts. (9-1-2) (.833)
2. Harvard - 15 pts. (7-1-1) (.833)
3. Clarkson - 13 pts. (6-2-1) (.722)
4. Princeton - 12 pts. (6-6-0) (.500)
5. St. Lawrence - 11 pts. (5-3-1) (.611)
6. Cornell - 10 pts. (5-2-0) (.714)
7. Yale - 8 pts. (4-4-0) (.500)
8. Dartmouth - 7 pts. (3-5-1) (.389)
9. RPI - 4 pts. (2-6-0) (.250)
10t. Colgate - 2 pts. (1-6-0) (.143)
10t. Brown - 2 pts (1-7-0) (.125)
10t. Union - 2 pts. (1-7-0) (.125)