TROY, N.Y. – Sophomore Kristina Lavoie broke a 3-3 tie at 7:19 of the third period and the University of New Hampshire women's hockey team hung on for a 4-3 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in non-conference action on Friday. The Wildcats are now 2-2-0 on the season, while the Engineers fall to 0-3-2 overall.

Locked in a 3-all battle after two periods of action, Lavoie (Fonthill, ON/Jean Vanier) gave the visitors the one-goal advantage after her shot from the top of the far circle re-directed off the shoulder of RPI netminder Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) and in. 

The Engineers attempted the comeback in the waining minutes, pulling van der Bliek in favor of the extra attacker with 55 seconds remaining. A late penalty on the Wildcats secured RPI's advantage, but despite three hard shots at the net, the Engineers were unable to grab the equalizer.

New Hampshire struck first in the opening period as freshman Nicole Gifford (Peterborough, ON/St. Peter's Secondary) scored at 4:25, re-directing a shot in front through a screen in front of van der Bliek. 

The Engineers battled back late in the frame as rookie Jordan Smelker (Anchorage, AK/Team Alaska 19U) connected on a pass from Katie Daniels (Rockton, IL/Chicago Mission), skated through the near circle and sent a slicing shot over the glove of Kayley Herman (Weyburn, SK/Athol Murray College of ND) and in at 18:27.

Senior Kendra Dunlop (Granum, AB/Warner Hockey School) then made a 2-1 advantage just 55 seconds later after she intercepted the puck in the neutral zone. UNH, which was in the middle of a line change, scrambled to cover but Dunlop made her way around a lone defender for the shot past Herman at 19:22.

The Wildcats evened things up to open the second period as senior Courtney Birchard (Mississauga, ON/Lincoln M. Alexander) sent an off-balance shot toward the net from just inside the top of the far circle at 1:15. 

New Hampshire later gained a 3-2 advantage on Julie Allen's (Brampton, ON/Turner Fenton) shot from inside the left circle at 10:25, but the Engineers refused to back down as junior Jill Vandegrift (St. Paul, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds) collected the puck from Daniels at the top of the near point, skated down the right side and sent a shot into the left corner from the bottom of the circle.

Herman picked up the win, stopping 27 shots for UNH, while her counterpart, van der Bliek made 25 stops in the RPI net.

The Engineers return to the ice next weekend against two more Hockey East foes. RPI faces Providence on Friday (7pm) and then battles Northeastern on Sunday at Matthews Arena (1pm). New Hampshire heads to Schenectady on Saturday for a 4pm game at Union.