Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Junior defenseman Maddie Endicott's (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) goal at 5:04 of the third period gave Princeton University the lead and the Tigers added an insurance goal mid-way through the frame to secure a 3-1 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in ECAC Hockey action on Friday.

With the victory, the #10 Tigers improve to 10-8-1 and 7-5-0 overall while the Engineers drop to 11-7-2 and 6-2-1 in ECAC Hockey. Princeton has now won each of its last three games while RPI has gone 1-2-0 in the same span.

Tied 1-1 after two periods of play, the Tigers grabbed a 2-1 advantage as Endicott corralled a cross-ice pass from freshman Heather Landry (Lexington, MA/Middlesex School) and roofed it over the shoulder of Engineers netminder Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros).

Princeton took a two-goal lead at 12:37 after junior Stephanie Denino (Montreal, PQ/Dawson Blues) sent a backhanded shot from the bottom of the far circle past van der Bliek, who was screened in front. Freshmen Danielle DiCesare (York, ME/Assabet Valley) and Paula Romanchuk (San Jose, CA/San Jose Jr. Sharks) were credited with the assists.

The Tigers struck first in the opening period as after a blocked shot off the stick of Denino flew into a pile in front of the RPI net at 12:08. The puck was tipped by Melanie Wallace (London, ON/London Jr. Devilettes) and picked up by DiCesare. She shifted the puck over to Romanchuk who backhanded the puck over the shoulder of van der Bliek and into the right corner of the net.

Rensselaer tied things up in the second frame when junior winger Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) tallied her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Classmates Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) and Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice) earned the assists after Wright chipped the puck up to Gersten in the slot from the far side of the neutral zone. Gersten found a streaking Naslund to the right of the net, who snuck it in underneath Tigers goalie Kristen Young (Calgary, AB/Bowness Bruins) at 11:39.

Young finished with 24 saves to improve to 10-8-1 overall while her counterpart, van der Bliek made 19 stops in the loss and is now 10-6-2.

Rensselaer returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it hosts Quinnipiac at 4pm. That game is Youth Hockey Day at the Houston Field House and all youth hockey players are encouraged to wear their jerseys. Princeton is also in action tomorrow at Union (4pm).