Women's Hockey - ECAC Quarterfinals (26/27 Feb)

RPI - and more specifically Lovisa Selander - gave a valiant effort in the Engineers' ECAC Quarterfinal matchup against Quinnipiac, but in the end fell short in a pair of overtime games.

The Bobcats defeated RPI 3-2 in overtime on Friday afternoon, then the Engineers held on well into double-overtime on Saturday before eventually succumbing in a 2-1 loss.

Friday

Wash/Gruschow/Tomlinson
Rooney/Schwalbe/Thomas
Grigsby/Mankey/Raspa
Hylwa/Horwood/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

A pair of late second period goals gave RPI an unlikely 2-0 lead, but Quinnipiac scored two in the first half of the third to tie things up before eventually going on to win it in overtime with Emma Woods' goal at 2:04 of the extra period.

Lovisa Selander finished with 57 saves on 60 shots, while the Engineers managed a record-low seven shots against Sydney Rossman.

The first RPI goal came off the stick of Jaimie Grigsby when she broke in all alone on Rossman with two minutes left in the second period. Taking the puck straight down the middle, she fired a quick wrister past Rossman for the 1-0 lead.

Josefine Hansen made that lead 2-0 a short 1:29 later with a rocket of a slapshot from the blue line that found the top corner of the net.

The Engineers ended the second period up 2-0 despite being outshot 36-5. Unfortunately that would catch up with them in the third as the Bobcats bounced back to tie the game.

In addition to the overtime game winner, Emma Woods got the Bobcats on the board at 3:52 of the third, on a third try in front of the crease after Selander stopped Taylar Cianfarano's point blank chance.

Nicole Connery tied the game at two at 7:39 with a sharp angle shot that snuck over Selander's shoulder and just under the crossbar.

After regulation ended with the teams tied at two, it didn't take a lot of overtime for Quinnipiac to earn the win. At 2:04 of extra time, Cianfarano put another shot on Selander which was turned away, but the puck caromed off a crashing Woods' leg and into the net. Though the officials reviewed the play, the goal stood and the Bobcats took a 1-0 series lead heading into Saturday's game.

Saturday

Rooney/Gruschow/Grigsby
Tomlinson/Schwalbe/Thomas
Horwood/Mankey/Raspa
Hylwa/Orzechowski/Tremblay

Hansen/Godin
Behounek/Banks
Kimmerle/Renn

Selander

If 57 saves weren't enough on Saturday, Selander made 66 more on Saturday, but it still wasn't enough to carry RPI to a win on Saturday as Quinnipiac defeated them 2-1 in double overtime, ending the Engineers' season.

Jaimie Grigsby scored her second goal of the weekend just 25 seconds in, getting the puck past the defense to beat Rossman in similar fashion to her goal the day before, but Quinnipiac tied it before the midpoint of the first, then the teams went scoreless for over four periods before Nicole Brown finally won it for the Bobcats.

Cianfarano's goal came after she nearly turned the puck over in the RPI zone, but recovered it and put it through traffic in the slot to beat Selander.

After facing an onslaught of shots from the Bobcats, turning away 50 from the start of the second period through the second overtime, Selander was finally solved again at 13:24 of the fifth period when Brown picked up her own rebound and snuck it backhand past the sliding RPI netminder.

With the other series complete, St. Lawrence will face Quinnipiac in the ECAC semifinals while Colgate will go up against Clarkson. Both games, along with the championship game, will take place in Hamden as Quinnipiac hosts as the #1 seed.

The losses spelled the end of the Engineers' season and they will look toward next year with a positive outlook with Selander in net, but needing to solve some offensive and defensive woes if they are to move up in the ECAC.  It was a common theme for RPI to be heavily outshot this season, reflected in Selander setting the school record for saves in a season with 1058, and a .939 save percentage that was good for seventh in the nation, despite the team finishing eighth in the ECAC.

Outstanding goaltending will not take the Engineers anywhere if they can't shore up the play in front of Selander in the coming seasons, as Union has proven over several years with dismal finishes despite having several top notch goaltenders come through the program.

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RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Quarterfinals - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
2/26/16 - 2pm
QU 3, RPI 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5618
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.f26

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/26/womens-ice-hockey-no-4-quinnipiac-edges-womens-hockey-in-ot.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/2/26/no-1-qu-womens-ice-hockey-overcomes-two-goal-deficit-to-beat-no-8-rensselaer-in-overtime-3-2.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsPBqlwVfhY

RECORD: 10-16-7

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RPI at Quinnipiac
ECAC Quarterfinals - TD Bank Sports Center (Hamden, CT)
2/27/16 - 2pm
QU 2, RPI 1 (2OT)

BOX SCORES:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=whock&id=5619
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1516/boxes/wquiren1.f27

RECAPS:
RPI: http://www.rpiathletics.com/news/2016/2/27/womens-ice-hockey-womens-hockey-sees-season-end-in-double-overtime.aspx
QU: http://quinnipiacbobcats.com/news/2016/2/27/nicole-brown-lifts-no-1-qu-womens-ice-hockey-past-no-8-rensselaer-in-double-overtime-2-1.aspx
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cWql2dydO0

RECORD: 10-17-7

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ECAC Semifinals

#6 St. Lawrence vs. #1 Quinnipiac
#4 Colgate vs. #2 Clarkson