It has been a rough year on both sides, there's no question. But there's reason for optimism - both the men's and women's teams have young talent that is taking the lead on a lot of things.
At the beginning of the second half of the season, there were two good options for the men - either play your best players and hope for the best result from them, or get your younger players more experience with an eye toward the future.
Ultimately, those options were realistically the same thing. That has seen some upperclassmen fighting for ice time. There's no reason not to expect that, when healthy, we will see all five freshman forwards in the lineup on the men's side.
The freshman are making a significant impact on the women's team as well, with Eleeza Cox, Ali Svoboda, and Taylor Mahoney each making solid contributions already.
Six of the top ten scorers for the men are freshmen and sophomores (and four are freshmen). Six of the seven freshman skaters have put the puck in the net this season at least once. Freshmen lead both teams in goals scored (Ryan Haggerty with five and Cox with eight).
Those sophomores and freshmen will be juniors and sophomores next year, and both teams have some pretty solid recruits ready to come in as freshmen next season, too. More on them soon.
In the meantime, it's game day for the women as they head off to play at Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend. Neither team, of course, can be considered low-hanging fruit, but neither seem invincible either. Might be a good weekend to gain some ground if the team plays as well as they did last weekend in a solid win over Colgate (which was followed by a "hang in there and don't get killed" outing against Cornell, easily the class of the league).
Here's a pumpup for the women this weekend. Been looking for a good excuse to go with Muse, this feels like the weekend.
We'll have another tomorrow for the men as they spend today making sure their immunizations are up to date for the yearly trip to Schenectady.
And once again, apologies for the recent lack of content. Podcasts will be returning as soon as our new computer arrives.
Showing posts with label eleeza cox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eleeza cox. Show all posts
Friday, January 13, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Women's Hockey - Colgate & Cornell (6/7 Jan)
With the holiday break behind them, RPI took to the ice in the first of seven straight league weekends which will close out the 2011-12 season. After ending 2011 with five losses in six games, including a 10-0 thrashing by Clarkson, RPI desperately needed a win over a Colgate squad just ahead of them in the standings, and they got it, posting a 4-1 victory over the Raiders before falling 3-0 to a powerful, albeit depleted Cornell squad.
Colgate
Cox/Harrison/Smelker
Mahoney/Vandegrift/Horton
Letuligasenoa/Guillemette/Svoboda
Sanders/Mankey
Castignetti/Vadner
Le Donne/Walsh
Schilter/Marzario
O'Brien
As the race to make the playoffs truly heats up over the tail end of the season, it becomes more and more critical to pick up points wherever possible - but nowhere moreso than the teams you're trying to catch in the standings. With RPI hovering around the bottom of the pack, and both Colgate and Brown just a point ahead, the game proved a ripe opportunity for the Engineers to do just that.
An early power play did little to help the Engineers find their momentum, as RPI put only a single shot on net during the advantage. Colgate came out firing after the penalty kill, putting several shots on netminder Kelly O'Brien before Melissa Kueber put a puck home from close range at 5:57 to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
RPI would answer before the end of the period, as Taylor Horton knotted the game at one with a shot over Kimberly Sass's glove at 17:10.
Eleeza Cox put the Engineers ahead late in the second period, tapping a loose puck over the outstretched stick of Sass after the Colgate goalie made a nice play to stop a 2-on-1 opportunity for the Engineers. Cox made it a two goal game with her team-leading eighth goal of the season - with just 1:04 left in the third period after a brillian takeaway by Alisa Harrison behind the Colgate net. Harrison slid the puck forward to Cox, who was flying into the slot and left undefended for an easy one-timer past Sass.
Cox's goal, while not on the power play, came just after the tail end of the final of three penalties in a row for the Raiders in the third period, which stifled their comeback attempts. Madison Marzario scored her second of the season into an empty net to seal the game at 4-1.
Cornell
Cox/Harrison/Smelker
Mahoney/Vandegrift/Horton
Letuligasenoa/Guillemette/Svoboda
Sanders/Mankey
Castignetti/Vadner
Le Donne/Marzario
Schilter/Walsh
O'Brien
Cornell entered the game with six of their top players out of the lineup as they represented Team Canada at the Meco Cup in Germany, but the shortened bench did not disrupt the Big Red's winning ways. After trouncing Union 9-1 the night before despite dressing just 11 skaters, the same lineup took to the ice in Troy and worked its way to a 3-0 shutout and a 30-15 advantage in shots.
Cornell's Kendice Ogilvie scored from the slot at 11:07 of the first despite being surrounded by three RPI skaters, ripping the puck stick side on O'Brien for a 1-0 lead.
The teams traded a long series of penalties in the second period as the game got surprisingly rough. After combining for two slashing calls, a checking call, and three roughing calls, Cornell finally cashed in on a power play opportunity at 13:53 of the period when Monika Leck was given a little too much room to maneuver and fed a precise pass through the crease to Laura Fortino for an glove-side tap-in past O'Brien.
The Big Red extended their lead to three with just 22 seconds remaining in the middle frame, with Brianne Jenner firing a laser of a shot over O'Brien's shoulder from a surprisingly sharp angle.
Despite the two goals allowed, it was a rather good period defensively for the Engineers, who held Cornell to just six shots on goal in the frame. Unfortunately, RPI managed just two shots of their own in the same period, and four in the third - simply not enough to pick up any goals against a loaded Cornell squad.
Cornell made it clear once again that they are the team to beat in the ECAC, skating with just over half a full complement of skaters yet still not getting fatigued and cruising to a fairly easy win. Credit to RPI for keeping the score close, but Cornell clearly performs at a higher level and appears more than deserving of their current #3 national ranking.
RPI hits the road next weekend for a pair at Dartmouth (7pm Friday) and Harvard (4pm Saturday). WRPI will not have coverage of the road games, however audio and video will likely be available from the home teams. Check the RPI Athletics website closer to game day for links, or check Without a Peer on Twitter for score updates. The Engineers return to the Capital District the following weekend for a home-and-home with Union which will prove critical if the Engineers hope to make the playoffs.
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RPI vs. Colgate
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/6/12 – 3:00pm
RPI 4, Colgate 1
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wclgren1.j06
RECAPS:
Video Highlights (no audio): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFB5yeBks34
RECORD: 5-12-4 (2-5-2 ECAC)
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RPI vs. Cornell
ECAC Hockey Game – Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/7/12 – 3:00pm
Cornell 3, RPI 0
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wcorren1.j07
RECAPS:
Video Highlights (no audio): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vrLch-2vUs
RECORD: 5-13-4 (2-6-2 ECAC)
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ECAC Standings
GP Pts Conf All
Quinnipiac 14 20 9-3-2 13-8-2
Cornell 9 16 8-1 12-2
Princeton 14 14 6-6-2 7-9-4
Clarkson 10 13 6-3-1 12-6-4
Harvard 10 13 6-3-1 9-5-1
Dartmouth 10 12 5-3-2 8-5-2
St. Lawrence 10 11 5-4-1 10-7-3
Brown 9 7 2-4-3 5-5-6
Colgate 9 7 3-5-1 8-11-1
Rensselaer 10 6 2-6-2 5-13-4
Union 10 3 1-8-1 3-16-2
Yale 9 2 1-8 1-15
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Upcoming Games
Jan. 13 - at Dartmouth (7pm)
Jan. 14 - at Harvard (4pm)
Jan. 20 - Yale (7pm)
Jan. 21 - Brown (4pm)
Jan. 27 - at Union (3pm)
Jan. 28 - Union (3pm)
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Women's Hockey - at Brown & Yale (11/12 Nov)
If there was ever a time to turn around the Engineers' troubled season start, this would be it. Hitting the road to take on Brown and Yale, teams both predicted to finish among the bottom of the league, RPI needed to pick up some points and break out of their offensive funk. They did just that as the weekend progressed, managing only a 2-2 tie against Brown on Friday before shellacking Yale 5-0 on Saturday behind a hat trick from freshman Eleeza Cox.
Brown
Smelker/Cox/Horton
Harrison/Guillemette/Vandegrift
Sanders/Mahoney/Svoboda
Letuligasenoa
Castignetti/Vadner
Le Donne/Schilter
Walsh/Marzario
O'Brien
Brown's record last season would seem to indicate a team that didn't have much going for them, but they gave RPI trouble, winning the teams' first meeting and holding a 2-0 lead in the other past the midpoint of the third period before breaking down and letting the Engineers roar back for the win. That tough competition returned in the teams' first meeting of the 2011-12 season as the Bears and Engineers skated to a 2-2 tie at Meehan Auditorium.
A scoreless first period passed with limited interruptions as the scoresheet shows just a single RPI penalty in the frame, with a 10-5 RPI shot advantage. Momentum would shift in the Bears' favor in the second, but only for a matter of moments.
Just past the midpoint of the middle frame, a defensive turnover by RPI left Brown's Katelyn Landry all alone against Kelly O'Brien. Landry was stopped on her first try as well as the ensuing rebound, but the puck sat in the crease after the stop, allowing Skyelar Siwak to sneak in from the side and poke it past O'Brien for a 1-0 lead at 10:33.
The score didn't hold for long. Just 45 seconds later, Toni Sanders knotted the score at one on a quick feed from Taylor Horton following a save on Eleeza Cox. The pass made its way through traffic in the crease to a wide open Sanders who put it home and kill the Bears' momentum in a hurry.
A Brown tripping penalty assessed on the same play left the Engineers on the power play immediately following the goal, and they capitalized quickly to turn the 1-0 defecit into a 2-1 lead. Taylor Horton carried the puck into the offensive zone, dropped it for the defense and headed to the net, and was rewarded with a rebound opportunity on an ensuing shot which she snuck past a sprawling Aubree Moore to put the Engineers ahead at the 12:08 mark - less than a minute after tying the game.
RPI kept strong pressure throughout the remainder of the second and the third, but Brown's Sarah Robson singlehandedly tied the game back up, carrying the puck deep into the RPI end, outworking a defender in the corner, and taking a dipsy-doodle path to the front of the net to beat O'Brien and make it a 2-2 game.
Continued RPI pressure, including a power play opportunity later in the third, did not give the Engineers the look at the net they needed to retake the lead, and the game went into overtime, ending in a 2-2 tie, but allowing the Engineers to at least take a point from the game.
Yale
Smelker/Cox/Horton
Harrison/Guillemette/Vandegrift
Sanders/Mahoney/Svoboda
Letuligasenoa
Castignetti/Schilter
Vadner/Walsh
Marzario
Piper
The preseason coaches' poll may have gotten the bottom end of the league wrong based on early results, as both Union and Brown have shown promise so far, while Yale has apparently regressed even further from last year's underwhelming performance, with an overtime win over Union (in which the Bulldogs were outshot 31-24) marking their only win in nine games. In that stretch, only twice have they given up three or fewer goals.
RPI took advantage of Yale's struggles and used them to break out of their own offensive funk. Scoring in bunches - specifically with a hat trick from Eleeza Cox, shutting down Yale's offense entirely, and a shutout by Brianna Piper netted RPI its first win of the ECAC season.
Cox opened the scoring late in the first period with Yale's Stephanie Mock off for a hooking call. Cox took the puck from the board and slid into the slot where a weak backhander snuck through traffic and past Yale's Genny Ladiges. Jordan Smelker and Alisa Harrison picked up assists on the goal.
Jill Vandegrift doubled the Engineers' lead at 16:40 of the second when she put a rebound off Taylor Mahoney's shot past Ladiges to make it 2-0. Jordan Smelker, who herself notched a hat trick against Yale exactly one year prior, opened it up to 3-0 at 19:09 as she broke in on Ladiges alone and ripped a shot top shelf.
Early in the third period, RPI was awarded a penalty shot when Yale's Madi Murray closed her hand on the puck in the crease. Cox took the shot, skating in and deking several times before slipping a backhand shot past the outstretched leg of Ladiges and extending the lead to a commanding 4-0.
Cox completed the hat trick about three minutes later, threading a shot under Ladiges' arm through traffic to make it 5-0 and close out the scoring. All told, the Engineers finished the game with a seriously lopsided 52-15 edge in shots on goal, in a game they controlled from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer.
While Yale is not top flight competition by any means, teams need to be able to soundly defeat teams they should beat, and RPI did just that on Saturday. After a disappointing tie against Brown on Friday, RPI came out strong, dictated the flow of the game, and never let off the gas en route to Saturday's win.
The Engineers will face much, much stronger competition next weekend as the top-ranked and defending national champion Wisconsin Badgers come to Troy for a pair of games at the Field House. Wisconsin won last year's pair of games by a combined 13-0 score and has already jumped out to an 11-1 record this season, so RPI will have its hands more than full for the weekend.
With the men off next weekend, expect to see WRPI cover the games against Wisconsin, although it is not currently listed on their broadcast schedule. Video and live stats will be available as usual through the RPI Athletics website, and live tweets from HFH can be found @without_a_peer.
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RPI vs. Brown
ECAC Hockey Game – Meehan Auditorium (Providence, RI)
11/11/11 – 7:00pm
RPI 2, Brown 2 (OT)
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wbrnren1.n11
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.ecachockey.com/women/video/index
RECORD: 2-7-4 (0-3-2 ECAC)
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RPI vs. Yale
ECAC Hockey Game – Ingalls Rink (New Haven, CT)
11/12/11 – 4:00pm
RPI 5, Yale 0
BOX SCORES:
College Hockey Stats: http://collegehockeystats.net/1112/boxes/wrenyal1.n12
RECAPS:
Video Highlights: http://www.ecachockey.com/women/video/index
RECORD: 3-7-4 (1-3-2 ECAC)
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Upcoming Games
Nov. 18 - Wisconsin (7pm)
Nov. 19 - Wisconsin (4pm)
Nov. 25 - Syracuse (7pm)
Nov. 26 - Syracuse (4pm)
Dec. 2 - at Clarkson (7pm)
Dec. 3 - at St. Lawrence (4pm)
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