HOME AND HOME SERIES: Rensselaer takes on area-rival Union in a home-and-home series this weekend ... Action begins in Schnectady on Friday (7pm) and concludes on Saturday at the Houston Field House in Troy (4pm).

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Live statistics for Saturday's game – and all home games – can be found at http://www.sidearmstats.com/rpi/whockey.

WATCH ON RPI TV: Saturday's action can be seen live on RPI TV, or online at www.rpitv.org.

ON THE AIR AND ONLINE: Select games throughout the season can be heard live on 91.5 FM, WRPI, or online at www.wrpi.org/listen.

ENGINEERS TIE AT UNION: Junior Alexa Gruschow scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season, as Rensselaer played to a 2-2 tie at Union on Friday ... The hosts got the scoring started at 9:12 of the opening period, when junior Jessica Kaminsky stuck home a rebound at the right of the cage for her third of the season ... Gruschow drew RPI even (1-1) 23 seconds into the second, sweeping home a shot from close range ... Freshman Shayna Tomlinson and sophomore Laura Horwood notched the helpers ... Union regained the lead at 14:19 of the second stanza, on a shot from the left circle by senior Alex Tancrell-Fontaine ... The Dutchwomen worked the puck to the point for Tancrell-Fontaine, who beat RPI senior goaltender Kelly O'Brien inside the left post ... Horwood netted the game-tying goal at 10:14 of the third, converting on a terrific passing play down low ... Senior Kathryn Schilter found Tomlinson along the goal line, who quickly snapped a pass across the face of goal to Horwood for th easy tap in ... The Engineers continued to pressure in the later stages of regulation and into overtime, but were unable to sneak a puck past Union senior netminder Shenae Lundberg, who recorded 24 saves, including 13 in the third period alone ... O'Brien finished with 20 stops ... RPI went 1 for 5 on the power play, while Union was 2 for 4.

RENSSELAER LEADERS: Junior Alexa Gruschow (7 goals, 8 assists) leads RPI with 15 points ... A trio of Engineers are tied for second with 12 points, including seniors captains Taylor Mahoney (3 goals, 9 assists) and Ali Svoboda (6 goals, 6 assists), along with sophomore Laura Horwood (6 goals, 6 assists) ... Senior blue-liner Kathryn Schilter (1 goal, 10 assists) has 11 points, while freshman Shayna Tomlinson (4 goals, 6 assists) has 10.

BETWEEN THE PIPES: Senior Brianna Piper (1-5-3) has a 3.26 goals against average and an .898 save percentage in nine starts, while classmate Kelly O'Brien (3-12-1) has a 2.88 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in 16 starts.

ON THE DRAW: Freshman Shayna Tomlinson has won a team-best 64.7% of the face-offs she's taken (185 to 101) ... Junior Alexa Gruschow is second at 54.7%.

BLACK AND BLUE: Senior defenseman Kathryn Schilter has blocked a team-high 51 shots ... Freshman Amanda Kimmerle is second with 28, while junior Jenn Godin has 26.

ECAC HOCKEY LEADERS: Freshman Shayna Tomlinson is second in ECAC Hockey in face-off percentage (64.7%), while senior Kathryn Schilter is first in blocked shots (51) and third in blocked shots per game (2.12) ... Sophomore Hannah Behounek has been assessed league-highs in both penalties (15) and penalty minutes (30).

PACING THE DUTCHWOMEN: Junior Kathryn Tomaselli (5 goals, 8 assists) leads Union with 13 points ... Classmate Jessica Kaminsky (3 goals, 9 assists) is second with 12 points, while senior defenseman Alex Tancrell-Fontaine (4 goals, 7 assists) is third with 11 ... Senior goaltender Shenae Lundberg (4-17-4) has started all 25 games for the Dutchwomen and carries a 2.66 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.

2013-14 VS. UNION: The Engineers swept the season series a year ago, winning 4-1 at the Houston Field House, before topping the Dutchwomen, 3-0, in Schenectady ... Ali Svoboda netted a pair of goals and Jordan Smelker dished out two assists in RPI's victory in Troy ... Kelly O'Brien was forced to make just 10 saves in the win ... In the rematch, O'Brien stopped all 18 shots she faced in the shutout ... Lauren Wash netted a pair of goals, while Smelker registered a goal and an assist ... Union's lone goal on the weekend came from Stefanie Thomson, with assists to Maddy Norton and Kathryn Tomaselli ... Shenae Lundberg stopped 12 of 14 shots before being lifted for Madeleine Dahl in the series opener ... Lundberg then turned away 19 of 22 shots at Messa.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Engineers own a 23-3-4 edge over Union in the all-time series.

RENSSELAER AT HOME: The Engineers are 4-8-2 at home this season after going 4-8-2 last season and 5-10-3 in 2012-13.

POWER PLAY PRODUCTION: The Engineers are 3-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-15-3 when they fail to tally on the advantage.

IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Four ECAC Hockey schools are ranked in the top 10 nationally, including third-ranked Quinnipiac, fifth-ranked Harvard, seventh-ranked Clarkson and 10th-ranked Cornell.

THE CAPTAINS: Seniors Taylor Mahoney and Ali Svoboda join assistant captain junior Mari Mankey as the captains for the 2014-15 season ... All three are in their first season wearing the "C" or the "A" for the Engineers.
BY CLASS: The 2014-15 roster consists of four freshmen, five sophomores, six juniors and seven seniors.

BY POSITION: The Engineers roster consists of 12 forwards, seven defensemen and three goaltenders.