TROY, N.Y. - The Providence College women's ice hockey team traveled to Troy, N.Y. to take on the Rensselaer Engineers on Friday, Jan. 11. The Friars defeated RPI, 2-1 in the Houston Field House. The win moves the Friars overall record to 10-9-4 and their out of conference record to 5-5-2 on the season.
The Friars were first on the board with a goal at 14:19 of the first period. Freshman Molly Illikainen (Grand Rapids, Minn.) made a diving play to move the puck to sophomore Haley Frade (Marion, Mass.), who eventually found the back of the net off freshman Courtney Kukowski's (Apple Valley, Minn.) rebound. It was Frade's eighth goal of the season , with Illikainen and Kukowski notching their 16th and fourth points, respectively.
Junior goaltender Nina Riley (Lexington, Mass.) made a big save with three minutes to go in the first period to keep the score tilted in the Friars favor heading into the second period. Riley stopped all three shots she faced, while RPI's Brianna Piper stopped three of the four shots she faced.
After 20 minutes of back and forth action, the second period went scoreless. Providence had several chances to create separation during the period, including one in front of the net from sophomore Beth Hanrahan (Poolesville, Md.). Riley made a huge stop on a breakaway play from RPI's leading scorer Alexa Gruschow. At the end of 40 minutes, shots on net were even at 11 apiece.
Half way through the third period the Friars were able to add on to their lead. Junior Corinne Buie (Edina, Minn.) scored the goal at 9:08 of the period. Sophomore Brooke Simpson (Boxboro, Mass.) won an offense zone face off back to sophomore defensemen Victoria Virtue (Walpole, Mass.), who fed the puck to Buie for a one timer on the backstop. Buie tallied her eighth goal of the season on the play, while Simpson and Virtue notched their 11th and second point on the season, respectively.
The Engineers closed Providence's lead at 5:55 of the third period. Katie Daniels of RPI tallied her first power-play goal of the season, when she put in a puck low blocker side off a scrum in front of the net. Daniels was assisted on the play by Taylor Horton, who tallied her seven assist of the season on the play.
The Friars finished the last two minutes of the game short-handed to earn their fourth road win of the season. Riley stopped 19 of the 20 shots she faced to earn her third win on the season. The Friars were outshot by the Engineers, 23-20. To watch highlights from the game follow the link below.
Providence will finish its road series with RPI tomorrow, Jan. 12 at 4:00 p.m. The game will mark the last non-league game for the Friars before they head into their final stretch of Hockey East games.