TROY, N.Y. – Sophomore
Laura Horwood netted her first goal of the season to help the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team to a, 2-2, tie with the University of Connecticut, this afternoon at the Houston Field House. With the draw, the Engineers move to 1-4-2, while the Huskies are now 2-4-3.
UConn opened the scoring at 4:23 of the first period, on a shorthanded goal by senior captain Sarah MacDonnell (Quispamsis, NB/Brewster Academy). Breaking out of their defensive zone in a two-on-one with junior Leah Buress (Windsor, ON/Bluewater), MacDonnell took a cross-ice feed and stuck it past RPI senior goaltender
Brianna Piper (Oakville, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros).
The Engineers pulled even at 1-1 on freshman
Shayna Tomlinson's (Gilford, NH/Assabet Valley) second goal of the season, at 9:40 of the first. Senior captain
Taylor Mahoney (Cary, IL/Chicago Mission) earned the lone helper on the game-tying tally.
A power-play goal by Connecticut sophomore Kelly Harris (Canton, MI/Canton) put the visitors back in front (2-1) at 17:56 of the second. Harris took a pass in the right circle and beat Piper to the near post for her second in as many days. Assists went to classmate Jessica Stott (Niverville, MB/Shaftesbury) and senior Kayla Campero (Wallingford, CT/Choate Rosemary Hall).
Early in the third, the Engineers looked as though they had tied the game on a rebound shot by junior
Brandi Banks (Burlington, ON/Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres), but the officials ruled that Huskies freshman goaltender Annie Belanger (Sherbrooke, PQ/Champlain College) was interfered with in the crease.
Horwood (Belleville, ON/Durham West Lightning) then did tie the game at 6:39 of the third, slamming in the rebound of a shot by junior
Alexa Gruschow (Mechanicsburg, PA/Washington Pride). Sophomore
Hannah Behounek (Minnetonka, MN/Minnetonka) picked up the second helper.
Piper (0-2-2) made 18 saves, while Belanger (0-1-2) finished with 30 stops, including 11 in the third period.
The Engineers are back in action next weekend, when they open ECAC Hockey play at fourth-ranked Harvard and Dartmouth. RPI visits the Crimson on Friday (7pm), before taking on the Big Green on Saturday (4pm). UConn hosts Maine for a single-game weekend on Friday (7pm).
