Engineers Blank Huskies

Box score

Troy, N.Y. - Behind a two-goal effort from sophomore Allysen Weidner (Wichita, KS/Shattuck St. Mary's), the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's hockey team defeated Northeastern, 4-0, in non-conference action this afternoon. With the win, the Engineers improve to 6-2-1 overall while the Huskies drop to 0-6-1 on the season.

Sophomore Laura Gersten (Queensbury, NY/Troy-Albany Ice Cats) got things going for the Engineers, tallying her second goal of the season on the power play at 13:07. Off a behind the net pass from Weidner, Gersten rifled a shot from the top of the slot for the goal past Huskies goalie Leah Sulyma (Inuvik, NT/St. Albert).

Rensselaer gained a two-goal advantage at 17:59 when junior Melanie Guillemette (North Bay, ON/Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) connected on a pass from Jamie-Lynn Stewart (Cambridge, ON/Cambridge Jr. Fury) and sent a hard shot from the far point past Sulyma for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.

Weidner broke open the game in the middle frame, tallying the first of her two goals at the 2:10 mark. Finding the puck through traffic in front of the net, sophomore Whitney Naslund (Bloomington, MN/Bloomington Jefferson) chipped it over to the stick of Weidner, who found the back of the net. Linemate Allison Wright (Oakville, ON/Oakville Ice) was also credited with an assist on the play.

RPI held a 4-0 lead over Northeastern at 7:52 when Gersten, off a pass from Naslund, took a bullet shot at Sulyma which was re-directed into the net by Weidner to the left of the Huskies goaltender.

Neither side was able to light the lamp in the third period, which saw the Engineers hold a 15-7 shot advantage over the Huskies.

Rensselaer netminder Sonja van der Bliek (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) posted 26 saves in the win to improve to 4-0-0 on the season. Sulyma shouldered the loss for Northeastern making 34 stops on the night.

The Engineers return to ECAC Hockey action next weekend when they head to North Country rivals Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (4pm). Northeastern is back on the ice on Tuesday at Hockey East rival Providence (7pm).