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Saints women hold Off RPI, earn first ECAC league win

Posted 11/5/11

The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team earned its first ECAC Hockey win of the season on Friday night in Troy, NY, as the Saints skated to a 2-1 victory over Rensselaer. The Scarlet and …

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Saints women hold Off RPI, earn first ECAC league win

Posted

The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team earned its first ECAC Hockey win of the season on Friday night in Troy, NY, as the Saints skated to a 2-1 victory over Rensselaer.

The Scarlet and Brown, which outshot RPI 32-25 in the game, improve to 4-3-2 overall on the season and 1-2-0 in conference. Meanwhile the Engineers fall to 2-6-3.

"This was a character win for us tonight," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells. "Rensselaer always plays us tough and tonight wasn't any different. We had a great effort by Caitlyn and we needed it in some key spots."

Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in the first period, though St. Lawrence was the more aggressive squad, outshooting the host team 13-7. With the consistent offensive pressure in front of RPI goalie Kelly O'Brien, the Saints finally took a 1-0 lead a mere 23 seconds into the second period. After the Engineers failed to clear the puck, captain Karell Emard found sophomore Rylee Smith at the edge of the right circle. Smith then crossed the puck to the slot for junior Kelly Sabatine, who fired a shot past O'Brien's blocked for a 1-0 cushion.

With Lahonen turning in a pair of perfect periods, the visitors pushed their lead to 2-0 at the 12:34 mark of the third period while skating on the power play. First-year defender Amanda Boulier got the play started, slipping a pass to classmate Ellie Williams near the left post. Williams then found senior Vanessa Emond in the slot who buried her fourth goal of the year for a 2-0 advantage.

Rensselaer got itself back into the game in the final minutes, cutting its deficit to one at 2-1 with 1:12 left in the game. Eleeza Cox got the Engineers back into the game with O'Brien on the bench for the extra skater, as she took a pass from Jill Vandegrift and beat Lahonen.

However, the St. Lawrence defense was able to control the puck off the ensuing faceoff along the boards, protect Lahonen and run the final minute off the clock to earn the 2-1 victory. The sophomore goalie closed with 24 saves in the win, while O'Brien stopped 30 shots in suffering the loss.

St. Lawrence won the special teams battle on Friday, as it finished 1-for-6 on the power play while holding Rensselaer scoreless at 0-for-5.

The Saints will look to earn a weekend sweep tomorrow, Saturday, November 5 while they square off with Union College, who upset Clarkson on Friday night. The Saints and Dutchwomen will get underway at 4:00pm in Schenectady, NY.