TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team battled hard against #5 Cornell on Saturday afternoon, but an early three-goal outburst by the nationally-ranked visitors proved too much to overcome as the Engineers fell 4–1 at Houston Field House.

Mia Montanari netted the lone goal of the day for the Engineers, as she scored her third goal of the season midway through the second period.

Cornell jumped ahead early following three goals in the opening period, capitalizing on back-to-back power plays to seize early control. The Engineers responded in the second with an improved forecheck and tighter defensive play, highlighted by Kendal Davidson's shutdown work on the blue line. Davidson led all skaters with five blocked shots and added three shots of her own, anchoring RPI's penalty kill through six Cornell advantages.

Montanari provided the breakthrough RPI was searching for at 8:08 of the second period, cutting into the deficit with a determined unassisted tally. The forward forced a turnover near the blue line, skated into the zone, and snapped a shot inside the far post to make it 4–1. The goal energized the Engineers, who outshot the Big Red 8–6 in the frame and generated several additional scoring looks from Georgia Bailey and Naomi Forand during a late-period power play.

Goaltender Maelee Ambrass turned aside 30 shots in a 60-minute effort, including 10 in the final period. Sophia Jones and Taryn Rathwell added five blocks, helping the Engineers limit Cornell to just 10 shots in the third.

Cornell received goals from Abby Thibodeau, Karel Prefontaine, Georgia Schiff, and Alyssa Regalado, while goaltender Annelies Bergmann made 16 saves in the victory.

RPI will look ahead to a home-and-home with Syracuse on Friday and Saturday of next weekend.