Showing posts with label kelly o'brien. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kelly o'brien. Show all posts

Monday, January 20, 2014

Women's Hockey - Union Home & Home

RPI built on their three-point weekend against Quinnipiac and Princeton and carried that momentum into the home-and-home against Union, picking up the weekend sweep with 4-1 and 3-0 victories in Troy and Schenectady respectively.

The sweep was RPI's first this season in ECAC play (having picked up one non-conference sweep earlier on a road weekend at St. Cloud State) and Saturday's shutout at Messa Rink was Kelly O'Brien's third of the season.

Friday

Mahoney/Gruschow/Rooney
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Horwood/Wash/Sanders
Letuligasenoa/Walsh/Hylwa

Huhtamaki/Godin
Schilter/Banks
Behounek/Marzario

O'Brien

The Engineers put up what was perhaps their most complete game of the season on Friday, and rolled to a 4-1 victory at Houston Field House while outshooting the visiting Union Dutchwomen by a 41-14 margin.

Ali Svoboda scored twice with Laura Horwood and Madison Marzario tacking on goals, while Kelly O'Brien held Union off the board except for a 5-on-3 power play goal in the waning moments of the first period.

Svoboda's first goal came at 12:32 of the opening frame, after the Engineers spent most of the preceding game time keeping the Dutchwomen penned up in their own zone. Svoboda's backhand shot beat netminder Shenae Lundberg for a 1-0 lead, and to that point the Engineers held a 10-1 edge in shots.

RPI's second goal was all Horwood, as the freshman held the puck in at the Union blue line while her teammates changed, then skated in and through the defense all alone to put one home and give the Engineers a 2-0 lead.

Union found itself with a 5-on-3 opportunity late in the first period, with Svoboda off for hooking and Marzario off for slashing. The Dutchwomen power play, ranked fifth in the nation, made the Engineers pay with 15 seconds left in the first, cutting the score to 2-1.

While RPI wasn't able to extend the lead in the second period, they continued to outplay Union, racking up 18 shots on backup netminder Madeline Dahl, who had come in to replace Lundberg when she did not return to the game after the first period.

The Engineers shut Union down in the third period, holding the Dutchwomen to just a single shot on goal while padding their lead with two more goals.

Marzario scored just 46 seconds into the third after a Union tripping penalty put the Engineers on the power play, and Svoboda made it 4-1 less than three minutes later with another backhand shot much like her first goal.

Dahl was solid in relief for the Dutchwomen but it was not enough against an overwhelming offensive effort from the Engineers, who spent long stretches of time setting up shop in the Union zone. The flow of play on Saturday, however, would be much different than in Friday's matchup.

Saturday

Mahoney/Gruschow/Rooney
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Horwood/Wash/Sanders
Letuligasenoa/Walsh/Hylwa

Huhtamaki/Godin
Schilter/Banks
Behounek/Marzario

O'Brien

After the Engineers dominated play on Friday night, one might have expected to see a worn down Union squad on Saturday, but instead the Dutchwomen came out with a little extra jump and played the Engineers much more evenly than they had the night before.

It didn't help them, however, as the Engineers sent a sizable and rowdy Union fanbase home disappointed, earning a 3-0 shutout behind Kelly O'Brien's 18 saves.

It was a penalty-filled afternoon, in stark contrast to the previous night's five combined penalties, as the Engineers and Dutchwomen traded off 16 penalties in the weekend's second game.

After a number of those penalties went by in the first period with neither team able to take advantage, and Union clogging up the RPI offense's attempts to generate offense, the first period ended scoreless and with just a 5-4 edge in shots for RPI.

It looked like the game had the makings of one where one bad play might give Union a lead and let them try to coast with it, but Lauren Wash had different plans, finally breaking through for the Engineers with a power play goal at 11:35 of the second, then scoring again at 17:26, her team-leading 11th of the season, to make it a 2-0 lead. Both goals were unassisted.

Even with RPI up 2-0, the Dutchwomen had several chances to get back into the game, with the Engineers taking a late penalty in the second and two more in the third, but O'Brien held strong for the Engineers.

Seconds after killing off a late penalty in the third, during which Union pulled Lundberg for a 6-on-4 advantage, Jordan Smelker was able to break through the neutral zone after receiving a pass from Kathryn Schilter and put home and empty netter to seal the deal, giving the Engineers a 3-0 victory and their first ECAC sweep of the season.

With the four point weekend, the Engineers move into sixth place in the ECAC, just one point behind fifth-place Princeton with two games in hand.

RPI will now head back on the road to face Dartmouth and Harvard, and anything less than two points next weekend against a struggling Dartmouth squad will have to be seen as a disappointment for this Engineers team which is finally starting to find its stride, while Harvard will likely pose a bigger challenge as the Crimson look to get back at RPI for handing them a surprising loss earlier in the season.

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RPI vs. Union
ECAC Hockey Game - Houston Field House (Troy, NY)
1/17/14 - 7:00pm
RPI 4, Union 1

BOX SCORES:

RECAPS:

RECORD: 9-11-2 (5-5-1 ECAC)

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RPI at Union
ECAC Hockey Game - Messa Rink (Schenectady, NY)
1/18/14 - 4:00pm
RPI 3, Union 0

BOX SCORES:

RECAPS:

RECORD: 10-11-2 (6-5-1 ECAC)

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Upcoming Games

Jan. 24 - at Dartmouth (7pm)
Jan. 25 - at Harvard (4pm)
Jan. 31 - St. Lawrence (7pm)
Feb. 1 - Clarkson (4pm)

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ECAC Standings

1. Harvard - 21 points (10-2-1) (.808)
2. Cornell - 20 points (9-1-2) (.833)
3t. Clarkson - 18 points (8-2-2) (.750)
3t. Quinnipiac - 18 points (7-3-4) (.643)
5. Princeton - 14 points (6-6-2) (.500)
6. RPI - 13 points (6-5-1) (.542)
7. St. Lawrence - 12 points (5-5-2) (.500)
8. Yale - 11 points (4-5-3) (.458)
9. Dartmouth - 9 points (4-8-1) (.346)
10. Union - 6 points (3-9-0) (.250)
11t. Brown - 4 points (1-9-2) (.167)
11t. Colgate - 4 points (2-10-0) (.167)
Posted by Gary Russinko at 8:30 AM 0 comments
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Monday, December 2, 2013

Women's Hockey - at St. Cloud State (29/30 Nov)

Before last weekend's short respite, we noted that the Engineers were difficult to pin down. They did nothing to change that notion this weekend, winning two games against St. Cloud State by scores of 4-1 and 2-1 despite being outshot 77-41 on the weekend.

Kelly O'Brien was excellent in net for the Engineers, turning away 75 of 77 shots faced, including a career-high 44 saves on Friday afternoon, while many of the players had the opportunity to earn a road sweep in front of their family and friends in St. Cloud.

Friday

Mahoney/Wash/Sanders
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Horwood/Gruschow/Walsh
Letuligasenoa/Missy Mankey

Huhtamaki/Marzario
Banks/Schilter
Behounek/Godin
Middlebrook

O'Brien

RPI grabbed a 1-0 lead late in the first and held onto it until a 3-goal third period lifted them to an eventual 4-1 victory over St. Cloud State on Friday night, but it was Kelly O'Brien who stole the show with 44 saves on 45 shots.

Alexa Gruschow gave the Engineers that 1-0 lead at 17:59 of the first, first feeding Jordan Smelker for a shot then collecting Smelker's rebound and putting it past netminder Julie Friend.

O'Brien was called on to keep the Engineers in the game through the second period, which saw the Engineers outshot by a whopping 15-2 margin.

With some adjustments made during the intermission, RPI came out with a stronger third period and saw their lead doubled to 2-0 about five minutes in when Toni Sanders received a pass from Lauren Wash behind the Huskies' net and beat Friend up high.

St. Cloud State cut RPI's lead to 2-1 at 11:04 of the third with a power play goal by Payge Pena out of a scrum in front of O'Brien.

Wash scored a power play goal of her own with 2:19 remaining in regulation, with a little give and go from Jenn Godin to set her up for the shot.

Ali Svoboda put the game away with an empty net goal 32 seconds later, putting the Engineers up by the final 4-1 margin.

O'Brien was named the game's first star, making 14, 15, and 16 saves in the three periods respectively, while Toni Sanders (1G, 4 shots) was the game's second star and SCSU's Payge Pena (1G) was third star. 

Saturday

Mahoney/Wash/Sanders
Smelker/Mari Mankey/Svoboda
Horwood/Gruschow/Rooney
Letuligasenoa/Missy Mankey/Hylwa

Huhtamaki/Marzario
Banks/Schilter
Behounek/Godin

O'Brien

RPI jumped out to an early lead thanks to two power play goals in the first period on Saturday, and O'Brien made the lead hold through the remainder of the game as RPI held on for a 2-1 victory where they were once again outshot.

The Engineers scored on their first two power plays of the game, with Smelker picking up the first as a pass from Kathryn Schilter found her all alone on the doorstep.

Heidi Huhtamaki picked up the second assist on the play, and would also figure in the second goal, earning the primary helper on a Madison Marzario goal, a slap shot from the point which got past Katie Fitzgerald to make it 2-0.

A long 5-on-3 chance for the Huskies late in the first was successfully killed by the Engineers, and the second period passed with just one penalty on each team and no scoring. RPI was held to six shots in each of the first two periods.

A shorthanded goal got SCSU on the board in the third period, with Molli Mott scoring for the Huskies early in the period. O'Brien turned away the remaining shots, making 10 saves in the third period and 25 overall for her sixth win of the season.

RPI has one weekend of ECAC play at Princeton and Quinnipiac remaining before a month-long holiday break. Game times are 7pm Friday against Princeton and 4pm Saturday against Quinnipiac.

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RPI at St. Cloud State
Non-Conference Game - Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (St. Cloud, MN)
11/29/13 - 4:07pm
RPI 4, SCSU 1


RECAPS:

RECORD: 5-8-1 (3-3 ECAC)

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RPI at St. Cloud State
Non-Conference Game - Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (St. Cloud, MN)
11/30/13 - 4:07pm
RPI 2, SCSU 1


RECAPS:

RECORD: 6-8-1 (3-3 ECAC)

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Upcoming Games

Dec. 6 - at Princeton (7pm)
Dec. 7 - at Quinnipiac (4pm)
Jan. 4 - at Providence (7pm)
Jan. 5 - at Providence (4pm)
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Monday, October 7, 2013

Women's Hockey - at Robert Morris (4/5 Oct)

With exhibitions behind them, the Engineers took to the road to open up the regular season in the Pittsburgh suburbs, visiting Robert Morris - a team which has become somewhat of a fixture on RPI's non-conference schedule.

After Kelly O'Brien's 6th career shutout in Friday's matchup (a 3-0 victory for RPI), the Engineers found themselves in a two-goal hole with two minutes left in regular, then managed to tie the game with two extra attacker goals before eventually falling in overtime by a 3-2 score.

Friday

Smelker/Mahoney/Svoboda
Sanders/Gruschow/Wash
Horwood/Mari Mankey/Rooney
Hylwa/Missy Mankey

Banks/Schilter
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

RPI scored once in each period, and Kelly O'Brien picked up her sixth shutout in a 25-save effort to help the Engineers to a 3-0 victory in their regular season opener against Robert Morris on Friday evening. The victory came despite being outshot 25-20 in the affair.

Mari Mankey scored first for the Engineers, putting home a rebound of Laura Horwood's shot just shy of the midpoint of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Ali Svoboda tallied on the power play early in the second for a 2-0 lead, taking a pass from Taylor Mahoney and sneaking it past Colonials goaltender Courtney Vinet with traffic in front of the net.

Lauren Wash put the game on ice with an unassisted goal in the third, breaking past the RMU defense for a 2-on-0 with linemate Toni Sanders. Wash turned across the crease and beat Vinet stick side for RPI's third goal.

O'Brien made the RPI goals hold up, turning away five shots in the first, eleven in the second, and nine in the third for the shutout and first star honors. Mankey and Svoboda were the second and third stars.

Saturday

Smelker/Mahoney/Svoboda
Sanders/Gruschow/Wash
Horwood/Mari Mankey/Rooney
Hylwa/Missy Mankey

Banks/Schilter
Huhtamaki/Marzario
Middlebrook/Behounek

O'Brien

RPI was outshot by five goals once again on Saturday, but this time the result was much different as the Engineers fell 3-2 in overtime.

The game nearly didn't make it to extra time as Robert Morris held a 2-0 lead late in the third period, but a pair of penalties called against the Colonials with 3:03 left gave RPI a full two minutes of 5-on-3, and with O'Brien on the bench, RPI scored two extra attacker goals in the span of 41 seconds to tie things up.

Brittany Howard opened the scoring for the Colonials at 4:04 of the first period, blasting a slapshot past O'Brien from just inside the blue line to give RMU a 1-0 lead.

That lead was doubled to 2-0 at 17:30 of the opening frame when Thea Imbrogno forced a rebound past O'Brien in a net front scrum on the power play.

RMU goalie Jessica Dodds held the Engineers at bay throughout the second and much of a penalty-filled third period, but the long 5-on-3 opportunity in the final minutes of regulation gave RPI the chance it needed to get back into the game. 

Kathryn Schilter cut the Colonials' lead in half with just one second left in the pair of penalties and with O'Brien on the bench. RPI wasted no time in getting the extra attacker back out when play resumed, and it paid off when Taylor Mahoney tied the game at two with just 23 seconds left on the clock.

Unfortunately for the Engineers, the momentum wouldn't help them in overtime, as Kylie St. Louis beat O'Brien at 3:41 of extra time to hand the Colonials a 3-2 victory and a split on the weekend.

RPI returns home next weekend for games against BU (7pm Friday) and Northeastern (4pm Saturday) at Houston Field House.

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RPI at Robert Morris
Non-Conference Game – 84 Lumber Arena (Pittsburgh, PA)
10/4/13 - 7:00pm
RPI 3, RMU 0


RECAPS:

RECORD: 1-0 (0-0 ECAC)

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RPI at Robert Morris
Non-Conference Game – 84 Lumber Arena (Pittsburgh, PA)
10/5/13 - 3:00pm
RMU 3, RPI 2


RECAPS:

RECORD: 1-1 (0-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Games

Oct. 11 - Boston University (7pm)
Oct. 12 - Northeastern (4pm)
Oct. 19 - Vermont (3pm)
Oct. 25 - at UConn (2pm)
Oct. 26 - at UConn (2pm)
Posted by Gary Russinko at 8:30 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, October 9, 2011

Women's Hockey - at Vermont (7/8 Oct)

RPI took to the road for their second of three straight road weekends, paying a visit to Gutterson Fieldhouse and the Vermont Catamounts. When the teams met last season in Troy, a pair of ties resulted; this year, Friday's game ended the same way when Vermont came back from a 2-goal defecit to force a 2-2 tie, while the Engineers took over on Saturday, cruising to a 4-0 victory behind Kelly O'Brien's second shutout in as many collegiate games.

Friday

Smelker/Harrison/Vandegrift
Cox/Mahoney/Horton
Sanders/Guillemette/Svoboda
Letuligasenoa/Mankey/Walsh

Le Donne/Vadner
Castignetti/Marzario
Schilter

Piper

RPI roared out of the gate on Friday night, jumping out to a 1-0 lead just 2:22 into play when Toni Sanders got a tipped shot past netminder Kelcy Lanthier. Madison Marzario was credited with the primary assist on her initial shot toward the net, with Ali Svoboda picking up a second assist.

Vermont nearly tied the game at one with an attempt that beat Brianna Piper but rang off the post, but it was instead RPI who extended their lead to 2-0 when Alisa Harrison rushed up ice with Jill Vandegrift on a 2-on-1 midway through the second period. Vandegrift threaded a pass through the UVM's Kailey Nash, which Harrison corralled and fired past Lanthier while falling to the ice.

Brittany Zuback cut the Engineers' lead in half at 17:51 of the third with a bit of a fluky goal. After Zuback's rush up ice was broken up by Amanda Castignetti at the right faceoff circle, the puck trickled past Castignetti and Zuback was able to get it back on her stick and fire a sharp angle shot which trickled past Piper to make it 2-1.

The tying goal came early in the third period with the Catamounts shorthanded. Amanda Pelkey jumped out on a missed attempt to hold the puck on the UVM blue line, burned past Andie Le Donne, and skated in all alone on Piper, shifting to her backhand and lifting the shot over Piper's outstretched glove to make it a 2-2 game.

Laura Guillemette and Toni Sanders would have back-to-back chances at a wide open net later in the period, but twice in a row Lanthier swung her stick from the opposite side of the crease to bat down the shots in what would easily be the saves of the game. Kathryn Schilter would get another look at an open net for the Engineers, only to be denied by the quick action of UVM forward Brittany Zuback, who jumped in front of the shot to prevent a sure goal.

Piper would finish the game with a solid 33 saves for the Engineers and was named second star, while Lanthier stopped 22 for the Catamounts. Pelkey's shorthanded game-tying goal would net her first star honors, while Zuback, with the Catamounts other goal and quick-thinking save in the crease, was named third star.

Saturday

Smelker/Harrison/Vandegrift
Cox/Mahoney/Horton
Sanders/Guillemette/Svoboda
Letuligasenoa/Mankey/Walsh

Le Donne/Vadner
Castignetti/Marzario
Schilter

O'Brien

The Engineers attempted to duplicate their strong first period start on Saturday afternoon as the teams returned to action, dictating play and racking up an 8-2 shot advantage in the frame, but Lanthier held RPI scoreless through the first 20 minutes.

With Madison Marzario in the box on a tripping minor early in the second, Ali Svoboda took off down the left wing and fired a shot past a screen to beat Lanthier stick side for a shorthanded goal - the first of her collegiate career - and a 1-0 lead at 3:33.

Alisa Harrison doubled the Engineer lead just over five minutes later, tipping a shot by Sierra Vadner past Lanthier to make it 2-0 at 8:51. Svoboda made it two goals on the game with a power play goal at 13:28. Firing a rocket of a shot from the left point, the puck rang off the post and down into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead.

Andie Le Donne closed out the scoring with another power play goal at 12:28 of the third period. With Svoboda on a breakaway and looking for the hat trick, Vermont's Kailey Nash took a hooking penalty which would set up the Engineers' final goal. Le Donne drove a shot from the point which snuck through traffic and past Lanthier for a 4-0 lead which held up through a late UVM power play.

Kelly O'Brien picked up her second shutout in as many games for the Engineers in the 18-save effort, being named third star. Lanthier finished the afternoon with 17 saves on 21 shots. Svoboda was named first star for her two goals, and Sierra Vadner was named second star with two assists, two shots on goal, and +2 finish on the afternoon.

With the weekend's results, the Engineers move to 2-0-2 on the season and will carry their four-game unbeaten streak westward for a pair of games at Niagara University on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (2pm). Live stats will be available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/niagara/whockey/index.htm, with pay-per-view video being carried by America One at http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=402&s=396&sid=47.

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RPI at Vermont
Non-Conference Game – Gutterson Fieldhouse (Burlington, VT)
10/7/11 – 7:00pm
RPI 2, Vermont 2 (OT)

BOX SCORES:

RECAPS:

RECORD: 1-0-2 (0-0 ECAC)

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RPI at Vermont
Non-Conference Game – Gutterson Fieldhouse (Burlington, VT)
10/8/11 – 4:00pm
RPI 4, Vermont 0

BOX SCORES:

RECAPS:

RECORD: 2-0-2 (0-0 ECAC)

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Upcoming Games

Oct. 14 - @Niagara (7pm)
Oct. 15 - @Niagara (4pm)
Oct. 21 - Robert Morris (7pm)
Oct. 22 - Robert Morris (4pm)
Oct. 28 - Quinnipiac (3pm)
Oct. 29 - Princeton (3pm)
Posted by Gary Russinko at 4:15 PM 0 comments
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