Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Sophomore Janelle Malcolm scored at the two-minute mark of overtime to lift Syracuse University to a 3-2 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) at the Houston Field House on Friday. The Orange improve to 2-4-1 overall, while the Engineers drop to 2-3-2 on the season.

Trailing 2-1 in the third period, senior Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) pulled the homestanding Engineers even at the 18:00 mark. Classmate Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) brought the puck into the zone and wound up for a shot, which was blocked by Syracuse's Lisa Mullan (Victoria, BC/South Island Breakers). The puck slid out to Naslund in the near circle, who sent a wrister over the shoulder of the Orange goalie.

The overtime saw both teams come out strong, but Malcolm (Edmonton, AB/Edmonton Chinos) sealed the victory after she collected a pass from Taylor Metcalfe (Oakville, ON/St. Thomas Aquinas) and slid it under the RPI netminder Sonja van der Bliek's (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) glove.

Rensselaer got things going mid-way through the opening stanza on the first tally of the season by senior winger Allysen Weidner (Wichita, KS/Shattuck St. Mary's). Off the face-off in the far circle, sophomore Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride) dropped a pass back to rookie Janessa Haller (Anoka, MN/Anoka) in the high slot. Her shot through traffic was saved by the goalie, but the rebound went out to Weidner in the near circle for the goal at 9:55.

The Orange evened things up in the second period, capitalizing at the end of their own penalty kill at 16:10. Released from the penalty box after serving two minutes for hooking, Malcolm crossed ice to the bench, but ended up collecting a pass just inside the far circle from Holly Carrie-Mattimoe (Sherwood Park, ON/Sherwood Park Fury). Malcolm's shot was saved, but rebounded out in traffic to Jessica Sorensen (Ingersoll, ON/KW Rangers) for the score.

Syracuse built up a 2-1 lead at 6:23 of the third period after Mullan corralled a pass from the far boards from Kelly Dimmen (Colorado Springs, CO/Dougherty) and sent a shot 5-hole on van der Bliek, who had lost her stick moments before.

The Engineers, which scored both tallies on the power play, saw van der Bliek stop 24 shots in the loss. RPI kept its solid power play intact as the Orange went 0 for 8 on their power play.

Both squads return to action tomorrow afternoon in a 2pm match at the Houston Field House.