Box Score
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Sophomore
Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride) posted a goal and an assist to lead Rensselaer to a 2-0 victory over Route-7 rival Union on Saturday. With the victory, the Engineers improve to 6-8-4 on the season and 3-2-2 in conference play. The Dutchwomen drop to 2-12-1 with a 0-6-1 ECAC Hockey mark.
The teams skated through a scoreless first period, but both sides had solid chances to get on the board. The Engineers, who came out hard from the drop of the puck, saw its best chance come on the power play at 12:04 after freshman
Taylor Horton (St. Thomas, ON/Bluewater Jr. Hawks) skated into the Union zone and sent a shot on Dutchwomen netminder Alana Marcinko (Altoona, PA/Gilmour Academy). She made the save, but could not control the rebound, which Horton found once more that Marcinko stopped again.
In the second stanza, Rensselaer once again came out firing and finally broke out onto the scoreboard at 9:06. Senior winger
Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) posted her team-leading ninth tally of the year after collecting a pass from linemate Harrison and backhanding a shot over the reach of Marcinko.
The Engineers continued to press through the remainder of the period, building up a 22-5 shot advantage, including 13 shots in the middle stanza, through 40 minutes of play.
Harrison pushed the visitors out to a 2-0 lead at 8:11 of the final stanza after she converted a rebound off the stick of senior
Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice) for the power play tally past the Union netminder.
The Dutchwomen nearly got on the board after Emilie Arsenault (Rothesay, NB/Brewster Academy) skated into the zone and took a shot at the RPI goalie on the doorstep. Junior
Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) stopped the shot but lost her balance and fell.
The call on the play was initially a goal, but was ruled a no-goal after discussion by the officials and both benches.
van der Bliek was forced to make just 10 saves to earn her sixth victory of the season. Marcinko made 34 stops in the loss for the Dutchwomen.
RPI and Union return to action on Sunday at 12pm, completing the home-and-home series at the Houston Field House in Troy.
