Box Score

HAMDEN, Conn. – Sophomore goalie Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) stopped 24 of the 25 shots she faced, including 11 in the second period to lead the Rensselaer women's ice hockey team to a  2-1 win over Quinnipiac in ECAC Hockey action on Friday afternoon. The Engineers improve to 9-5-2 overall and 5-1-1 in league play while the Bobcats drop to 2-17-1 and 1-6-1 in ECAC Hockey.

With the victory, Rensselaer is now undefeated through 10 of its last 11 games dating back to October 24. The Engineers only loss during that stretch came in a 5-0 loss at nationally-ranked Dartmouth.

Rensselaer opened up a 1-0 lead at the 10:32 mark of the opening period behind junior winger Allysen Weidner's (Wichita, KS/Shattuck St. Mary's) team-leading sixth goal of the season. Through a pileup in front of the net, Bobcats junior Nanna Holm-Glaas (Segeltorp, Sweden/Danish National Team) was unable to control a Kendra Dunlop (Granum, AB/Warner Hockey School) shot and Weidner was there to poke in the rebound for the one-goal advantage.

The Engineers continued to press in the middle stanza as Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice) converted a 2-on-1 opportunity with a scorching wrist shot from the left circle over the shoulder of Holm-Glaas at 4:02.

Holding a 2-0 lead, RPI found itself on the penalty kill at 8:33 as junior Janine Duffy (Toronto, ON/National Sports Academy) made a move in the Engineers zone and was taken down after the shot by Rensselaer defenseman Sierra Vadner (Apple Valley, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds).

The Bobcats quickly capitalized during the man advantage as senior Elyse Cole (Belleville, ON/Durham West Jr. Lightning) took a shot through a screen in front of van der Bliek at 10:09 to cut the Quinnipiac deficit to 2-1.

Despite the one-goal lead for RPI at the end of two periods, Quinnipiac held a 12-3 advantage in shots for the stanza, including six during back-to-back penalties on Vadner.

In the third period, the Bobcats had a number of opportunities to tie things up, but could not get past the Rensselaer defense and van der Bliek. Mid-way through the period, the Engineers' netminder made a stellar save against Quinnipiac junior Kallie Flor (Farmington, MN/Farmington) to preserve the lead.

The Bobcats gained a 5-on-3 advantage for 15 seconds later in the period, but Rensselaer killed it with 52 seconds left on the clock. Pulling Holm-Glaas with 30 seconds left, Quinnipiac attempted to tie things up with the 6-on-4 advantage, but were unable to break through.

In goal, van der Bliek made 24 saves to improve to 8-4-2 overall and 5-1-1 in ECAC Hockey. Her counterpart, Holm-Glaas, stopped 19 shots in the loss for Quinnipiac and is now 1-12-1 overall and 0-4-0 in conference play.

The Engineers take to the ice for their final game of 2008 on Saturday afternoon with a 4pm face-off at Princeton. The Bobcats host Union, also at 4pm.