Women's Hockey Forces the Action and Beats RPI, 4-2

Friday, January 13

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

RENSSELAER

Women's Hockey Forces the Action and Beats RPI, 4-2

1/13/2012 10:07:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Despite falling behind 1-0 in the first period for the fifth time in the last six games, the Dartmouth women's hockey team came back to beat Rensselaer, 4-2, Friday night at Thompson Arena. The win improved the Big Green to 10-5-2 overall and 6-3-2 in ECAC Hockey. The Engineers fell to 5-14-4 overall and 2-7-2 in the conference.

Dartmouth used two goals in the third period to secure the victory. The first came on a delayed penalty three minutes into the frame. The referee had signaled for a tripping violation, but the Big Green still controlled the puck. Sophomore Lindsay Holdcroft (Pittsburgh, Pa.) left the ice, and the team used the additional attacker to its advantage. Just six seconds after Holdcroft stepped off the ice, senior Reagan Fischer (Irma, Alberta) tallied her fifth goal of the season to give the team a 3-1 lead.

Senior Kelly Foley (South Boston, Mass.) had the puck on the near side and made a sharp pass to Fischer, who was standing right outside of the crease. The forward quickly redirected the pass to score the goal.

The Engineers cut the lead to one with 4:04 left in the third off the stick of Jordan Smelker. Smelker deflected a shot by Sierra Vadner, and the puck beat Holdcroft low and to the left side of the net. But when Rensselaer pulled goaltender Kelly O'Brien in attempt to tie the game, senior Erica Dobos (Bethel Park, Pa.) tallied an empty-net goal to give the Big Green a 4-2 win.

Dartmouth took 34 shots in the game, including 19 in the second, with the Engineers only taking 16 in the contest. The Big Green went 3-for-7 on the power play and won 29 of the 48 faceoffs. Holdcroft made 14 saves and improved to 8-4-2.

RPI scored the first goal of the contest, 11:47 into the opening frame. Amada Castignetti took a slapshot from a stride inside blue line in front of the Dartmouth bench. It deflected off a Big Green defenseman and slid right inside the near post.

Dartmouth tied the game with time winding down in the first after a penalty by the Engineers. Off the ensuing faceoff, the Big Green controlled the puck and passed it down to junior Camille Dumais (Beaconsfield, Quebec) on the near side behind the net. She passed it across the front of the crease, but an RPI defenseman blocked the puck. O'Brien had slid to protect the far side of the net, but Foley found the deflected puck on the near side and slammed it home for her 12th goal of the season.

In the second period, Dartmouth scored only one goal despite taking 19 shots in the stanza. The team once again used the power play with Dumais and senior Jenna Hobeika (Alpine, N.J.) successfully converting a two-on-one with Dumais scoring her eighth goal of the year.

The Big Green are on a two-game winning streak, and are unbeaten in their last six games. The team hosts Union on Saturday at 4 p.m.