Box Score
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Freshman Jordan Smelker notched her first career hat trick to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team to a 4-1 ECAC Hockey victory at Yale University on Friday evening in front of 1,066 fans. The win gives the Engineers a 4-6-2 record, including a 3-2-0 mark in conference play. The Bulldogs are now 0-5-2 overall and 0-2-1 in ECAC Hockey.
The game also marked Yale's "White Out for Mandi" in honor of Bulldogs center Mandi Schwartz who is battling with cancer. The event on Friday raised more than $9,000 for Mandi and her family. A pre-game ceremony was held and following a ceremonial puck drop, Yale captain Samantha MacLean accepted a check for $1,000 from the Engineers women's hockey team, who held their own fundraiser for Mandi last weekend.
Smelker, who tallied two goals in the second period and another in the final stanza, becomes the first RPI player since 2007 to record a hat trick. The last being Whitney Naslund '10, who netted three goals against Dartmouth in game one of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals on Feb. 23, 2007.
After a scoreless first period of play, which saw both goaltenders put forth outstanding efforts, the Engineers finally broke onto the scoreboard at 3:01 of the second stanza as Smelker (Anchorage, AK/Team Alaska U19) tallied her fourth of the season. On the power play, Smelker re-directed in a shot in front past Genny Ladiges (Almonte, ON/Almonte and District) from sophomore Andie Le Donne (Toronto, ON/Durham West Lightning) at the point.
Smelker pushed the Engineers lead to 2-0 after she connected on a feed from sophomore Taylor Horton (St. Thomas, ON/Bluewater Jr. Hawks) at the 8:47 mark. The goal, which also came on the power play, saw junior Sierra Vadner (Apple Valley, MN/Minnesota Thoroughbreds) send it in from the point to pick up the secondary assist.
Senior Sydney O'Keefe (Prior Lake, MN/Prior Lake) then gave Rensselaer a three-goal lead at 13:00 after she scored her first of the season. Le Donne and junior Kristen Jakubowski (Lake Placid, NY/The Northwood School) earned the assists on the tally.
Rensselaer once again came out firing in the final stanza as Smelker recorded the notched hat trick and her team-leading sixth goal of the year just 25 seconds into the period. Junior Alisa Harrison (Vienna, VA/Washington Pride) picked up the primary assist, while Horton grabbed her second helper of the night.
The Bulldogs were able to cut the deficit to three (4-1) as Aleca Hughes recorded a tally past RPI's Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) at 5:07, but Yale could not get any closer as time ran out.
Rensselaer, which held a 40-20 advantage in shots, saw van der Bliek stop 19 shots for her fourth win of the season. In addition to 11 saves in the opening stanza, she stopped four in the second and third stanzas. Ladiges had 36 saves for the Bulldogs, including 13 in the first, seven in the second period and 16 in the third.
The Engineers are back in action on Saturday, heading to Providence for a 4pm showdown at Brown. The Bulldogs will host Union tomorrow afternoon, also a 4pm start at Ingalls Rink.
