TROY, N.Y. – Senior Kelsey Koelzer recorded a hat trick to lead the Princeton University women’s hockey team to a 4-0 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), on Friday night at the Houston Field House. With the win, the Tigers improve to 6-6-1 (4-4-1 ECAC Hockey), while the Engineers drop to 5-13-1 (2-5-0 ECAC Hockey).
Koelzer (Horsham, PA/USA U22) opened the scoring at 19:29 of the first, when she beat RPI sophomore netminder Lovisa Selander (Sollentuna, Sweden/SDE Riksserien) on a shorthanded breakaway. Freshman Julia Edgar (Oakville, ON/Oakville Jr. Hornets) and sophomore Karlie Lund (Eden Prairie, MN/Blake School) had the assists.
Lund then doubled the visitors’ advantage, 1:13 in to the second, taking a feed from Koelzer and netting her team-leading 11th goal of the season. The shorthanded tally came in the waning seconds of the same penalty that produced Princeton’s first goal.
???????Koelzer snapped home her second goal of the game at 9:05 of the third period, firing past Selander’s blocker for a 3-0 lead. Lund and freshman Claire Thompson (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) picked up the helpers.
The Tigers capped the scoring at 15:36 of the final stanza, as Koelzer completed the hat trick. Lund delivered a pass across the face of goal for Koelzer to tap home into an open net.
???????Selander made 39 saves, while Princeton freshman goaltender Steph Neatby (Toronto, ON/Canada U22) had 27 stops to earn her first collegiate shutout. The Tigers went 0 for 5 on the power play, while the Engineers finished 0 for 4.
RPI is back on the ice tomorrow afternoon, when it hosts eight-ranked Quinnipiac University at the Houston Field House (3pm). Princeton visits Union College tomorrow (3pm).
