Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Led by a goal and two assists from senior forward Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson), the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team beat Wayne State University, 3-2. The game marked the season opener for both the Engineers and the Warriors.

After a scoreless opening period, which saw both teams have a number of opportunities, senior captain Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) got the homestanding Engineers on the board. Off a pass from Naslund, she sent a slapshot from high in the slot past the reach of Wayne State netminder Lindsay Park (Thornhill, ON/Toronto Aeros) on the power play at 14:18.

Sophomore Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride) pushed RPI ahead 2-0 minutes later with a shorthanded tally. Carrying the puck into the zone, Naslund dropped a pass back to Harrison, who sent a shot a Park and found the rebound just behind the goalie for the score at 17:19. Senior captain Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice) was credited with the second assist on the goal.

Rensselaer headed into the second intermission with a 3-0 lead after Naslund scored the Engineers second power play tally of the game at 19:14. Setting up at the far point, Gersten sent the puck over to sophomore Katie Daniels (Rockton, IL/Chicago Mission) on the opposite point. One-timing the puck into the slot, Naslund controlled the first touch before wrapping the shot around a defender and into the right corner of the net.

The Warriors came back in the final stanza, cutting the lead to two on an unassisted tally by rookie Julie Hebert (Chelmsford, PQ/Aurora Jr. Panthers) at 3:17. Speeding into the slot, Hebert's shot clanked off the right post, but re-directed back into the net for the goal.

Freshman Gina Buquet (Lafayette, LA/Ohio Flames) pulled Wayne State to within a goal (3-2) with less than three minutes remaining the contest after she poked in the rebound of a Katrina Protopapas (Chatham, ON/Bluewater Hawks) shot through traffic in front of the net at 17:19.

Wayne State looked to tie things up in the closing seconds of the game, pulling Park in favor of the extra-attacker with 39 seconds left, but Rensselaer held on for the win. Naslund narrowly missed scoring her second of the game after her shot hit off the right post.

In goal, junior Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) stopped 23 shots for RPI, while Park finished with 32 stops in the loss.

Both teams return to action tomorrow afternoon for a 3pm match at the Houston Field House.