Solid Goaltending Sends Cornell Past Rensselaer
ITHACA, N.Y.- Junior goaltender Jenny Niesluchowski made 43
saves en route to leading the Big Red women's hockey team to a 3-2
win over Rensselaer to complete a weekend conference sweep on
Saturday afternoon. Karlee Overguard, Amber Overguard and Catherine
White all scored for the Big Red, and freshman defenseman Jess
Martino notched assists on Cornell's first two goals. Cornell
improves to 9-8-2 overall this season and 5-5-2 in ECAC Hockey,
while RPI moves to 11-9-3 and 6-4-2 in league play.
At 5:24 of the first period, sophomore Karlee Overguard shot the
puck at RPI netminder Sonja van der Bliek from the just outside the
crease. Van der Bliek made the initial save but the puck deflected
off her pads right back to Overguard who flipped it into the right
side of the Engineers' goal. Jess Martino and Chelsea Karpenko
assisted on the goals.
The Big Red went on the power play at 9:26 of the first period off
a hooking call to RPI. Cornell quickly set up the play with
Karpenko feeding the puck to Martino on the left point. Martino
slid the puck over to Karlee Overguard on the right point who sent
the it sailing through traffic in front of the net. The shot
deflected off of her sister Amber's stick past the Engineers'
goalie to put the Big Red up 2-0.
With a little more than six minutes left in the game, RPI was on
the power play after Cornell took a checking penalty. The Engineers
plastered Niesluchowski with shots, but the Big Red goaltender
robbed RPI of every scoring opportunity making spectacular
saves.
Early in the second period, Alison Wright shot the puck through
traffic from the point at the Big Red net. Niesluchowski was trying
to find the puck to cover it, but Alisa Harrison found it first and
flipped it up into the Cornell net to score at 3:31.
The Big Red carried its two-goal lead into the third period. Midway
through the third, Cornell defenseman Sam Wauer passed the puck to
sophomore Rebecca Johnston who skated up the ice and passed off to
freshman Catherine White. White raced along the left boards right
through the RPI defense. The rookie cut through the circles and
looked like she was going to pass off to Johnston. White faked the
goaltender and scored Cornell's third goal at 8:45 of the third
period over van der Bliek's shoulder.
RPI once again came within a goal when Jill Vandergrift scored at
16:39 of the third period. Kendra Dunlop picked up the assist.
The Engineers pulled their goalie with 1:15 left in the game in
favor of the extra attacker. Niesluchowski remained solid in net
while the Big Red fought off last minute RPI scoring chances.
Rensselaer was forced to put their goalie back in net to end the
period after taking a tripping penalty with less than 30 seconds
left in the game, and Cornell skated away with a 3-2 win.
Cornell was 1-6 on the power play, while RPI was 0-5.
The Big Red will hit the road next weekend to take on Yale and
Brown.












