Dartmouth's Streak Snapped at Rensselaer

Photo by DSPics.com

TROY, N.Y. - The Dartmouth women's hockey team took a 1-0 advantage after one period, but Rensselaer netted three unanswered goals and came away with a 5-2 win over the Big Green on Saturday.

Dartmouth (11-13-2, 8-11-1 ECAC) got two points from senior co-captain Jenna Cunningham (Medicine Hat, Alta.) and junior Amanda Trunzo (Andover, Minn.), while senior co-captain Sarah Parsons (Dover, Mass.) added a goal in the loss. Senior Mariel Lacina (London, Ont.) made 28 saves in the crease for the the Big Green. 

Rensselaer (14-11-6, 11-5-4 ECAC) saw Whitney Naslund come away with three points on two goals and an assist. The Engineers had three other scorers in addition to Naslund's tallies and in net, Sonja van der Bliek got the win with 23 saves between the pipes.

Trunzo and the Big Green picked up their left off last night at Union with a goal 2:04 into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. Trunzo got her 17th goal of the season, which ties her with Parsons for the team lead and it was her third score of the weekend. Cunningham was credited with the assist.

Rensselaer outshot the Big Green, 13-7, in the first period, but Lacina was on top of her game with 13 stops to keep the Engineers off the board. Dartmouth was able to kill off two Rensselaer power plays and got one of its own, but couldn't score.

The Engineers knotted the game at 1-1 early in the second period on a goal by Audrey Stapleton with the assists going to Clare Padmore and Katie Daniels. The goal came just 2:08 into the frame, so Rensselaer gave Dartmouth some of its own medicine in the middle period.

Kendra Dunlop gave the Engineers their first lead of the contest with 6:45 remaining in the second. Naslund got the assist. The Big Green had its opportunities with a pair of power play between Rensselaer's first and second goals.

The Engineers got its largest at 3-1 in the third period with 11:45 remaining in the game. Naslund added to her assist in the second with a goal for two points on the night and gave Rensselaer an all important two-goal cushion.

Parsons put Dartmouth back in the game with her 18th of the year to make it 3-2 at the 6:53 mark of the final frame. Cunningham was credited with her second assist of the night, while Trunzo got in on the play with an assist to give her two points on the night.

The rally fell short as Rensselaer took a 4-2 lead with under a minute remaining. Alisa Harrison posted the goal with the assists going to Taylor Horton and Laura Gersten. Naslund added her second of the night with one second left on the empty net to end the Dartmouth winning streak at three games as the Engineers finished off the Big Green with a 5-2 win.

 Both teams went scoreless on the power play with Dartmouth earning four opportunities on the man advantage and Rensselaer getting three chances with the extra skater. The Engineers won the shot battle with a 33-25 advantage.

The Big Green will be back in action next weekend for the final two matchups of the regular season at Clarkson and St. Lawrence.