Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – Senior Nicole McDonald (Ottawa, ON/Ottawa Raiders) tallied two second period goals to lift the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team to a 4-1 victory over Colgate University on Senior Night at the Houston Field House. The Engineers, which improved to 16-13-4 and 11-8-3 in conference play, secured the #6 seed in the upcoming playoffs and travel to #3 Princeton University next weekend.

Colgate, which dropped to 18-12-3 overall and 12-7-3 in ECAC Hockey, entered tonight's game having already secured the #5 seed. They will face #4 Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., next weekend.

Holding a 1-0 lead after a first period goal by sophomore Sydney O'Keefe (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake), the Engineers found themselves with a two-goal advantage after McDonald scored at 2:11 of the middle stanza. Collecting a behind-the-net pass from sophomore Kendra Dunlop (Granum, AB/Warner Hockey School), McDonald took a shot from low in the slot and put it past the reach of sophomore Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, ON/Durham Jr. Lightning). Senior Jamie-Lynn Stewart (Cambridge, ON/Cambridge Jr. Fury) was credited with the second assist.

The visiting Raiders lit the lamp mid-way through the frame after junior Beth Rotenberg (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) found the rebound of a Clancy Todd (Thorold, ON/Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) in the slot and swatted it past the reach of RPI netminder Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) at 9:35 on the power play.

McDonald recorded her second of the game at the 17:06 mark, finding the puck amidst a scramble in front of the net for her sixth of the season. Stewart earned the lone assist after her two shots were saved by Plenderleith before rebounding out to McDonald.

RPI made it a 4-1 advantage in the final stanza after Dunlop collected a pass from rookie Amanda Castignetti (Anchorage, AK/Shattuck St. Mary's) and sent a high wrist-shot past the Colgate goalie in the low slot on the power play at 7:16.

The Engineers went 1 for 4 on the power play while the Raiders, who held a 31-25 advantage in shots, were 1 for 5.

In goal, van der Bliek, backstopped the Engineers to their second post-season appearance in the last three years with 30 saves against the Raiders.  She improves to 15-12-4 overall.  Plenderleith made 21 saves in the loss and drops to 4-6-0 on the season.

Quarterfinal action of the ECAC Hockey Playoffs begins on February 27 and runs through March 1 with a best-of-three format. Game one on Friday will be at 7pm, while games two and three (if necessary) will be held at 4pm.  The championship semifinals and finals will be held on March 1-2 at the highest remaining seed.