Box Score
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Powered by the first two goals of freshman right winger
Jill Vandegrift's career, the Rensselaer women's ice hockey team defeated Union, 2-1, in ECAC Hockey action on Sunday at Messa Rink.
The Engineers, who are now 6-1-1 in their last eight games, improve to 7-5-1 overall and 4-1-1 in conference play. Rensselaer is tied with Dartmouth for first place in the ECAC Hockey standings with nine points apiece. Union falls to 0-13-1 and 0-6-0 in ECAC Hockey play.
The Engineers found themselves tied with the Dutchwomen after Union's Callee Heywood (Innisfall, AB/Notre Dame) came into the zone and shot the puck through the legs of an RPI defenseman at the bottom of the right circle. A screened Engineers netminder
Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) was unable to pick up the puck, which slid underneath her and into the corner of the net at 7:51 of the third period.
The Engineers regained the lead at the 15:05 mark as Vandegrift (St. Paul, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds) scored her second goal of the game and the season. With RPI on the power play and a mass of players in front of the net, senior
Jamie-Lynn Stewart (Cambridge, ON/Cambridge Jr. Fury) skated in close and got her stick on a loose puck. It rebounded out on the left side to Vandegrift, who scored. Junior
Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) earned the second assist on the tally.
Vandegrift opened the scoring in the second stanza when she tipped in a Gersten point shot at 9:16 with the Engineers on the power play. Corralling a crisp point-to-point pass from freshman
Katie Daniels (Rockton, IL/Chicago Mission), Gersten sent a hard shot into traffic, where it caught the stick of Vandegrift and went past Union goalie Lundy Day (Calgary, AB/U. of Maine).
The Engineers, who held a 33-10 advantage in shots for the game, saw van der Bliek earn her second straight victory, stopping nine shots. Day recorded 31 saves in the loss for Union.
Rensselaer returns to action next weekend when it travels to Robert Morris for a pair of non-conference games on Friday and Saturday. Both contests will begin at 7:35pm. Union returns to the ice in two weeks with a two-game set at Sacred Heart on November 28 & 29.
