HANOVER, N.H. – Juniors Sabrina Repaci and Blake Orosz combined for four points to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Dartmouth College, on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Arena. With the win, the Engineers improve to 5-8-4 overall (3-3-0 ECAC Hockey) while the Big Green drop to 3-8-1 (2-5-0 ECAC Hockey).
Orosz (Chase Mills, NY/Nepean Wildcats) opened the scoring at 7:53 of the first period, jumping on a rebound inside the right circle and snapping home her team-leading fifth goal of the season. Repaci (Toronto, ON/Toronto Jr. Aeros) walked the puck from the top of the right circle and fired a shot that caught the shin pad of a Big Green defender and caromed directly onto the tape Orosz for the one-time finish.
The Engineers had chances to add to their lead as the period progressed, including a power play midway through, but Dartmouth senior netminder Christine Honor (Mississauga, ON/Etobicoke) stood her ground, turning away 11 in the frame.
RPI doubled its lead at 5:17 of the second, when Orosz found Repaci cutting to the middle of the slot with a nifty backhand pass. Repaci stepped into her shot and beat Honor, glove side, for her third tally of the year. A secondary assist went to senior Jaimie Grigsby (Whitby, ON/Whitby Wolves).
The Big Green forced a turnover right in front of the RPI net, midway through the second, but freshman Sara McClanahan (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) was denied point-blank by Engineers senior goaltender Lovisa Selander (Sollentuna, Sweden/SDE Riksserien).
Repaci then had a chance to push the visitors’ lead to three with five minutes left in the second, but her one-time from the just inside the left circle was stopped and held by Honor. Three minutes later, Big Green junior Christina Rombaut (Rothesay, NB/Rothesay Netherwood Riverhawks) saw her net drive and shot gloved by Selander.
The hosts did draw within 2-1 on a goal sophomore Emily McLaughlin (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) at 12:02 of the third. The attempt was nearly kept out of the net by the skate of RPI senior defenseman Josefine Hansen (Copenhagen, Denmark/Shattuck St. Mary’s), but the puck just crossed the line after Selander made an initial save on freshman Gabby Billing (Corcoran, MN/Minnesota Whitecaps).
Dartmouth pulled Honor late in the third, but could not find an equalizer. She finished with 29 saves, while Selander (3-7-4) had 25 stops at the other end of the ice. RPI went 0 for 5 on the power play, with Dartmouth finishing 0 for 1.
The win between the pipes was the 31st of Selander’s career, passing Kelly O’Brien ’15 for fifth on the school’s all-time list.
Rensselaer returns to Troy for a pair of ECAC Hockey games next weekend, hosting Princeton University and Quinnipiac University on Friday (6pm) and Saturday (3pm), respectively. Dartmouth hosts New Hampshire on Tuesday (7pm).
