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TROY, N.Y. – Senior Jessica Vella broke a 2-2 tie late in the second period to lift the Providence College women's hockey team to a, 3-2, victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), this afternoon in non-league action from the Houston Field House. With the win, the Friars improve to 11-9-4 overall, while the Engineers drop to 6-14-2.
Vella (Pickering, ON) scored at 16:54 of the third period, which held up as the eventual game-winning goal. Assists went to senior Nicole Anderson (Jordan, MN) and junior Rebecca Morse (Westfield, NJ).
The two teams traded goals a quarter of the way through the first period. The visitors were the first to crack the scoresheet when sophomore Haley Frade (Marion, MA) put home a rebound off a shot by freshman Lexi Slattery (Lino Lakes, MN). Classmate Molly Illikainen (Grand Rapids, MN) earned the second assist.
RPI answered 1:24 later, when senior captain
Taylor Horton (St. Thomas, ON/Bluewater Hawks) buried her eighth on the season to knot the game at 1-1. Sophomore
Ali Svoboda (Arlington Heights, IL/Chicago Mission) earned the lone helper.
The visitors regained the lead (2-1) at 9:57 of the stanza, as freshman Courtney Kukowski (Apple Valley, MN) beat RPI sophomore
Kelly O'Brien (Sussex, WI/Madison Capitals) on a breakaway, glove-side. Frade found her on a long pass through the neutral zone to pick up the primary assist. Junior Maggie Pendleton (Woodbury, MN) was credited with the second helper.
The Engineers were able to pull even once again, at 5:06 of the third period on junior
Jordan Smelker's (Anchorage, AK/Team Alaska 19U) eighth goal of the year. Freshman
Alexa Gruschow (Mechanicburgh, PA/Washington Pride) took a shot from the right that caromed off of Friars' rookie goaltender Sarah Bryant (Bethlehem, PA) to Smelker who slammed it in.
Bryant (7-6-3) finished with 26 saves, including 11 in each of the last two periods. O'Brien (5-12-1) put up 29 stops at the other end of the ice, including 12 in the opening stanza.
The Engineers return to ECAC Hockey action next week, when they visit Harvard and Dartmouth on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (4pm), respectively.
