Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Powered by a goal and two assists from senior Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice), the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team defeated Union College in ECAC Hockey action on Sunday. With the win, the Engineers improve to 7-8-4 overall and 4-2-2 in conference play, while the Dutchwomen drop to 2-13-1 and 0-7-1 in ECAC Hockey.

Rensselaer opened the game's scoring, tallying a pair of goals less than three minutes apart for a 2-0 lead after the first period of action.

Wright gave the homestanding Engineers the early lead at 5:07 when she put in the rebound of an Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride). Collecting a pass from Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson), Harrison took a shot from the near edge of the far circle, but her shot was saved by the Union goalie. The puck rebounded out to Wright, who sped through the mid-slot for the shot past Alana Marcinko (Altoona, PA/Gilmour Academy).

The Engineers made it a two-goal advantage at 7:51 after junior Kendra Dunlop (Granum, AB/Warner Hockey School) punched in her own rebound near the left corner of the net on the power play. Senior Allysen Weidner (Wichita, KS/Shattuck St. Mary's) got things going, digging the puck out at the near corner to rookie Clare Padmore (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) behind the goal line. She carried the puck behind the net before dropping it off to Dunlop for the ensuing goal.

In the second stanza, Rensselaer broke open the game, scoring two more goals, including Naslund's team-leading 10th of the season. Sophomore Jill Vandegrift (St. Paul, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds) pulled RPI ahead 3-0 at 5:49 when she found the loose puck in the low slot off the stick of junior Sydney O'Keefe (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake) and sent it past Marcinko.

Naslund gave the Engineers the 4-0 lead at 18:34 on the power play after she collected the puck near the far goal line from sophomore Amanda Castignetti (Anchorage, AK/Shattuck St. Mary's) and roofed it into the top right corner of the net.

The final stanza saw Rensselaer wrap up the scoring, with Harrison tallying her sixth of the season off a pass from Wright. Rookie Janessa Haller (Anoka, MN/Anoka) was credited with the secondary assist.

Union put the pressure on late in the game, holding an 8-6 lead in shots for the period, but the Dutchwomen were unable to solve goalie Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros), who made 15 saves for Rensselaer. Marcinko finished with 26 saves for the Dutchwomen.

Rensselaer is now idle January 8-9 when it hosts St. Lawrence and Clarkson, respectively, at the Houston Field House. Union is back on the ice next Friday and Saturday, hosting a two-game set against the University of Maine.