PRINCETON, N.J. – Senior goaltender Amanda Rampado collected 43 saves and Maddy Papineau scored twice as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team fell short in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Princeton Tigers on Saturday afternoon. RPI falls to 9-22-1 overall and 4-15-1 in ECAC Hockey, while Princeton improves to 14-11-1 and 10-10-0 in ECAC Hockey play.
 
Princeton struck first in the first period, with less than 30 seconds remaining in the period. After a good forecheck to keep the puck in their own offensive zone, Jane Kuehl tossed a puck across the ice to Stef Wallace for a one-timer to beat Rampado on the back post to make it 1-0 Princeton.
 
Less than a minute into the second period, Kaiser tied the game at one goal apiece. The Engineers leading scorer this season added to her total with a wrist shot from the blue line that found it's way in the top left corner of the net after getting a pass from Taylor Larsen.
 
The Tigers took the lead back over at the 7:47 mark of the second period, as Mariah Keopple found the back of the net after a highlight save from RPI goaltender Amanda Rampado moments earlier. A wrist shot from the top of the left wing circle found it's way through traffic to give Princeton the 2-1 lead.
 
Maddy Papineau had the answer for the Engineers before the end of the second period, as she scored at the 16:59 mark. With a breakout pass finding Papineau at center ice, she skated across the blue line making some moves, and took a wrist shot from near the right side circle. Marah Wagner and Ellie Kaiser were credited on the assists on the play.
 
Papineau then scored again to lead off the third period, this time on the power play. With a delayed penalty also coming, Papineau ripped a one-timer from the right wing circle on a pass from Ellie Kaiser to put RPI up 3-2 just 3:42 into the period.
 
The Tigers scored their equalizer with just under seven minutes to play in the third period when Annie Kuehl scored her first goal of the night on the power play. Handling the puck just inside the blue line of the right side of the ice, Kuehl took a shot that found it's way into the net, evening the game up at 3-3. That score stood through the end of the period, forcing overtime.
 
As it looked both sides may play to a tie through the overtime period, Kuehl connected on a wrist shot in a 2-on-1 rush that beat Rampado's glove for her second goal of the game, and to give the Tigers the 4-3 win with just 33 seconds remaining in the extra frame.
 
Rampado's 40 saves marks the fifth time this season she's reached the plateau, and the third straight game she has reached the mark. After making 41 saves against Yale last Saturday, Rampado also made 40 saves in Friday night's matchup with Quinnipiac.
 
The Engineers return to the ice next Friday, February 17 at 6 p.m. when they return home to the Houston Field House as RPI hosts Cornell in the first game of their final weekend of the regular season.