Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Brown netminder Nicole Stock stopped 35 of the 36 shots she faced and Brown hung on for a 2-1 victory over Rensselaer in ECAC Women’s Hockey action. The Bears, who earned their first home win of the season, improve to 4-19-5 overall and 3-14-4 in conference action. The Engineers drop to 13-14-5 and 6-11-4 in the league.

Despite the loss, Rensselaer can still clinch the eighth and final league playoff berth with a win over Yale on Saturday afternoon (4pm). The Bulldogs, who defeated Union, 2-1on Friday evening, tied the Engineers earlier this season at the Houston Field House. The winner of Saturday's contest finds themselves in the playoffs. Should the two teams tie, Yale advances.

The homestanding Bears jumped out to an early lead in the opening stanza after Erica Kromm put one past netminder Ashley Mayr at 3:08. That tally was unassisted. Brown added to its lead at the 15:12 mark as Erin Connors buried a shot past Mayr off assists from Sasha Van Muyen and Maggie Suprey.

Rensselaer closed the gap by a goal with just two minutes remaining in the first period when sophomore Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) found the back of the net on the power play. The goal was assisted by defensemen Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) and Melissa Boik (Allen Park, MI/Michigan Capitals).

Neither team could capitalize through the final two periods, which saw RPI outshoot Brown, 25-14 during that stretch. Stock, who stopped 10 shots in each of the first two periods, held the Engineers at bay in the final frame with 15 saves.

Rensselaer pulled Mayr with just under two minutes remaining but could not score past the Bears goalie, who stopped several point blank shots late in the game.

Brown closes out its season against Union on Saturday at 4pm.