Box Score
St. Lawrence University first-year students Michelle Ng and Kelly Sabatine combined for five points on Saturday afternoon, leading the Saints' women's hockey team to a key 3-1 victory over Rensselaer at Appleton Arena. The victory moves the Scarlet and Brown into sole possession of fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with four games remaining in the regular season.
St. Lawrence extended its active winning streak to three games and improved to 14-9-7 (10-5-3) on the year, while Rensselaer falls to 12-11-6 (9-5-4) and into a tie for fifth place in the league standings.
"We got off to a great start, as our power play has been clicking early during the last few games," remarked Saints' head coach Chris Wells. "It's a good thing too, because Rensselaer really took it to us over the last 30 minutes of the game."
The Saints' corps of rookies has continued to shine throughout the 2009-10 season, and they showed their dynamic offensive capabilities in a three-goal first period. Sabatine opened the scoring only 2:54 into the game when she took a feed from Ng and moved in one-on-one against RPI netminder
Sonja van der Bliek. The Hamilton, ON native used a slick backhand move to beat van der Bliek for a 1-0 lead.
Classmate Kayla Sullivan would make it 2-0 at 7:52 on the power play, with Ng and Sabatine both earning assists on the Caledonia, ON native's 11th goal of the year. Sabatine hit Ng to the goalie's left and she quickly slid a pass through the crease to a wide open Sullivan. Though she didn't catch the one-timer clean, she caught just enough of the puck to get it across the goal line for the two-goal advantage.
Ng would then complete the first period scoring at 15:58 on the power play with her ninth goal of the year. The Milton, MA native took a pass from sophomore Alley Bero, cut into the slot and ripped a wrist shot past van der Bliek's glove for the 3-0 lead. Senior captain Tara Akstull also had an assist on the goal.
The Saints did a nice job protecting their senior netminder Brittony Chartier throughout the first period and much of the second. The Saskatoon, SK native made five saves in the first and six in the second to keep her team's 3-0 lead intact through 40 minutes of hockey.
Rensselaer, who upset nationally-ranked No. 3 Clarkson on Friday night, began to turn the momentum in its favor midway through the second period. Though they came away without a goal, the offense started to create more chances on Chartier. The Engineers' efforts continued into the third period, and finally paid off at 3:21, when
Sierra Vadner got the visitors on the board. Vadner blistered a slap shot from the point past a screened-Chartier for her second goal of the season.
Allysen Weidner and
Andie Le Donne picked up helpers on the goal.
Though Rensselaer would continue to press the Saints' defense, Chartier made crucial save after crucial save in a period that saw the Engineers outshoot St. Lawrence, 8-4. Her play down the stretch included two big saves from point-blank range that kept it a two-goal affair and led to the Saints earning two points in the conference standings.
Ng finished with a career-high three point effort on a goal and two assists, while Sabatine added a goal and a helper. Chartier closed with 18 saves to earn the victory, while van der Bliek, who was perfect in the second and third periods, finished with 19 stops.
St. Lawrence's special teams continued to be a factor, as they were 2-for-8 on the power play and held the Engineers to an 0-for-4 mark with the extra skater.
Saturday's game ended a five-game home-stand for the Scarlet and Brown in which they finished 3-1-1. St. Lawrence will now hit the road for two big games with Quinnipiac and Princeton next weekend, February 12 and 13, before returning home for the final two regular season home games against Harvard and Dartmouth on the 19th and 20th.
Rensselaer returns to home ice on February 12 and 13 against Harvard and Dartmouth, respectively. The Engineers close out their regular season schedule at Cornell and Colgate on the 19th and 20th.
