TROY, N.Y.  – Led by points from 12 different players, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team defeated Dartmouth College, 5-2, in ECAC Hockey action at the Houston Field House. The win – which is RPI's third straight over the Big Green – moves the Engineers to 7-7-6 overall and 5-3-1 in conference play. Dartmouth is now 8-6-0 and 5-4-0 in ECAC Hockey.

The Big Green struck first to open the game, scoring at 1:06 on a tipped-in shot by junior Erica Dobos (Bethel Park, PA/North American Hockey Academy). Collecting a point pass from Margaux Sharp (Carleton Place, ON/Ottawa Senators), junior Geneva Kliman (Toronto, ON/Oakville Ice) blasted a shot from the far point, which was re-directed by Dobos for the early advantage.

Rensselaer responded quickly as rookie Jordan Smelker (Anchorage, AK/Team Alaska 19U) fired a shot in under the crossbar less than 1:20 after the Dartmouth goal and linemate Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride) gave the Engineers the lead for good at the 15:39 mark, tipping in a loose puck at the goal mouth.

The second period saw Rensselaer pad its lead by a two-goal margin as sophomore Clare Padmore (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) found the rebound of a Kristin Jakubowski (Colorado Springs, CO/The Northwood School) shot from the mid-slot, and fired it in from the bottom of the near circle.

Sophomore Camille Dumais (Beaconsfield, PQ/Dawson College) cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Big Green at 11:49 after she corralled the puck near the right corner of the net and flipped it around on her backhand past RPI's Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) for a power-play tally, but the Engineers came roaring back.

Sophomore Taylor Horton (St. Thomas, ON/Bluewater Hawks) pushed the lead back to two (4-2) at 17:33 after she stole the puck off a Dartmouth stick on the face-off and skated in alone for a shot over the glove of Holdcroft. The Engineers added their final tally at 19:14 as senior captain Kendra Dunlop (Granum, AB/Warner Hockey School) collected the puck at the far boards and skated toward the back of the net. She fired a shot to junior Jill Vandegrift (St. Paul, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds), who flew through the slot for the goal.

Despite a number of chances on both sides in the final stanza, neither team could solve each other's goaltenders.

RPI, which is now 3-0-4 in its last seven contests, saw van der Bliek stop 30 shots for the Engineers to pick up her seventh win of the season. In the Dartmouth net, Holdcroft stopped 14 shots in the loss, playing two periods before giving way to sophomore Whitney Woodcox (Oshawa, ON/Whitby Wolves), who stopped all 11 shots she faced in the third period.

The Engineers are back in action on Saturday against Harvard at the Houston Field House, while Dartmouth travels to Schenectady to play Union. Both games begin at 3pm.