Box Score

NEW HAVEN, CT -- Freshman defenseman Samantha MacLean's goal at 2:05 of the third period provided the winning margin as Yale beat RPI 3-2 to claim the final ECAC Hockey playoff spot in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at Ingalls Rink. The Bulldogs also got goals from junior forward Sarah Tittman and sophomore defenseman Alyssa Clarke to eliminate the Engineers, who would have moved past Yale into the eighth and final playoff spot if they had won the game.
 
Yale (11-12-6, 8-10-4 ECAC Hockey) had an early barrage of shots turned aside by RPI netminder Ashley Mayr, and one from a tough angle by freshman forward Bray Ketchum hit the post. Freshman goalie Jackee Snikeris had to range out of the crease four minutes in to smother forward Allysen Weidner's attempt. Snikeris also denied forward Kendra Dunlop's attempt to tip in a crossing pass right in front.
 
The first turning point of the game came on a delayed penalty against Yale. The Engineers got the puck into the slot and forward Nicole McDonald and defenseman Ellen McNamara chipped away at it. It eventually came loose to forward Allison Wright, who was unmarked low in the right circle, and she knocked it past Snikeris' glove side at the 11:18 mark.
 
RPI (13-5-5, 6-12-4 ECAC Hockey) kept the pressure on, and Clarke and junior defenseman Helen Resor had to hustle back to disrupt a potential breakaway for forward Jamie-Lynn Stewart. Resor then broke up a chance for forward Whitney Naslund, and right after that the Bulldogs had to go on their first penalty kill of the game.
 
Sophomore forward Caroline Murphy blocked one shot at the start of the RPI power play, and sophomore forward Mandi Schwartz got in front of another one right after that, scooping up the loose puck and clearing it to the other end of the ice. Snikeris gloved a shot by forward Julie Aho just as the Bulldogs got back to full strength.
 
Snikeris made another big stop by denying forward Brooke Thompson during a 2-on-1 with a Yale defender falling to the ice. Junior forward Maggie Westfal had Yale's last grade-A scoring chance of the period, sailing a shot wide with 30 seconds left.
 
The Bulldogs came out firing in the second period and it paid immediate dividends. Westfal slowed down an attempted clear along the left boards, and sophomore defenseman Berit Johnson got the puck at the point. Her shot from there was deflected by Tittman, and Mayr got a piece of it but not enough. The puck trickled past her to tie the score 54 seconds into the period.
 
Tittman just missed getting in another deflection 30 seconds later. Mayr came up with a pair of big saves when Resor carried the puck into the zone and sent one on net. She made a stick save on that one and on junior forward Crysti Howser's attempt to knock in the rebound.
 
Shortly after that junior forward Kristen Stupay drew the first penalty of the game on the Engineers. Clarke saw her first slap shot gloved by Mayr, but when Howser won the ensuing faceoff back to Clarke she teed up another one. This one sailed past Mayr to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 2-1, at 6:40 of the second.
 
Mayr denied Westfal from right in front of the net after a nice feed from Tittman, and the Engineers dodged another bullet with 7:30 left in the period. Mayr ranged far out of the net to control a loose puck with Tittman bearing down on her, and Tittman deflected Mayr's attempted clearing pass. With Mayr out of the net Tittman could not control the puck enough to get a solid shot off, and the Yale lead remained one.
 
RPI was whistled for a penalty near the end of the period but the Engineers had the best shot of that sequence. Snikeris had to make a quick kick save of a shot by Aho just seconds before the period ended. Yale had outshot the Engineers 20-3 in the second.
 
Yale got some much-needed breathing room when junior forward Danielle Kozlowski won a faceoff in the RPI zone back to MacLean, who quickly teed up a slap shot that appeared to deflect in off an RPI player at 2:05.
 
RPI defenseman Laura Gersten made things interesting when she intercepted a clearing pass at the Yale blue line and skated in on Snikeris, backhanding one in at 11:31 to bring the Engineers within one. But that was as close as they would get, as Snikeris finished off her 17-save night with some key stops in the final minutes. RPI pulled Mayr with 90 seconds left but could not get any quality chances. Mayr finished with 31 saves.
 
The Bulldogs finish as the seventh seed in the ECAC Hockey standings, one point ahead of Cornell, and will travel to the No. 2 seed, St. Lawrence, for a best-of-three quarterfinal matchup starting next Friday at 4:00 p.m.