TROY, N.Y. – Junior goaltender Katie Fitzgerald stopped all eight shots she faced and the St. Cloud State University women's hockey team shut out Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 3-0, this afternoon at the Houston Field House. With the win, the Huskies improve to 5-4-1 overall, while the Engineers drop to 1-8-2.
 
Junior blueliner Lexi Slattery (Hugo, MN) got the scoring started at 8:33 of the first period, when she ripped home a shot from the slot. The power-play tally, which was her second of the year, was assisted by senior Abby Ness (Roseau, MN) and junior Molly Illikainen (Grand Rapids, MN).
 
The visitors made it 2-0 at 11:21 of the second stanza on a goal by Vanessa Spataro (Soufville, ON). The helpers on Spataro's first of the season went to senior Amanda Arbogast (Virginia, MN) and senior Audrey Hanmer (Wyoming, MN).
 
Illikainen added an insurance goal less than four minutes later, when she took a quick feed from Ness at the right side of the cage and fired into a wide open net. The goal was her team-leading seventh of the year.
 
Fitzgerald (Des Plaines, IL) earned the shutout and improved to 1-0 on the season. RPI senior netminder Kelly O'Brien (Sussex, WI/Madison Capitals) finished with 33 saves.
 
The Engineers are back on the ice next weekend, when they resume ECAC Hockey play at fifth-ranked Quinnipiac and Princeton on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (4pm), respectively. St. Cloud State hosts Minnesota-Duluth for a two-game series.