TROY, N.Y. – Junior forward Ellie Kaiser and senior defender Taylor Zahirnyi each scored as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team battled and fell short to the No. 2 Yale Bulldogs by a final score of 4-2 at the Houston Field House Saturday afternoon. Senior goaltender Amanda Rampado also made 41 saves – marking the third time this season she's eclipsed 40 in a single game.
 
With the loss, RPI falls to 9-20-1 overall and 4-13-1 in ECAC Hockey, while Yale improves to 23-1-1 and 16-1-1 in ECAC Hockey play.
 
Yale scored two goals early in the first period, with Elle Hartje continuing her strong play against the Engineers with the first goal of the day at the 6:39 mark. She took a shot from behind the net that banked it's way into the net for the 1-0 Bulldogs lead. Less than a minute later at the 7:21 mark, Carina Diantonio scored off a handoff pass from Olivia Muhn, taking a wrist shot from the left wing circle that beat RPI goaltender Amanda Rampado's glove side for a 2-0 Yale lead.
 
The Bulldogs made it 3-0 before the end of the first period, as Emma Seitz took advantage of a power play opportunity. With a scramble for the puck in front of the new after an initial couple saves from Rampado, the puck found it's way back out toward the slot where Seitz wristed a puck that deflected off an RPI skater and into the net.
 
RPI got on the board at the 8:42 mark of the second period thanks to a shot from the blue line along the right side boards by senior Taylor Zahirnyi. After getting a pass from Sarah Bukvic, Zahirnyi let a shot fly that found it's way into the top left corner of the net to make it a 3-1 score. Nyah Philip also was credited with an assist on the play.
 
The game stayed 3-1 through the end of the second period, until Yale collected goal number four at the 12:03 mark of the third period. After a move in front of the net and shot from Hartje that was saved by Rampado, Jordan Ray stepped in and lifted a puck into the upper right corner of the net to move the score to 4-1 Yale.
 
Ellie Kaiser moved the score to 4-2 when she collected a late goal for the Engineers, scoring from a tough angle low in the corner that banked off the Yale goaltender Mia Wendell – who replaced the starter Pia Dukaric in the third period - with 1:20 to play. Maddy Papineau and Marah Wagner earned the assists on the tally, as the Bulldogs took the win.
 
Rampado made 41 total saves on the afternoon, making 19 in the first period alone. Dukaric made 13 saves over her two plus periods of action, while Wendell made four saves in her minutes in the final frame.
 
The Engineers return to the ice next Friday, February 10 at 6 p.m. on the ice at Quinnipiac. The game with the Bobcats will be the first of two games on the weekend in the final road trip of the season for RPI.