Souliotis Scores First Career Goal

TROY, N.Y. - For the second year in a row, the Yale women's ice hockey team is coming home from New York's Capital District with a sweep of its ECAC Hockey opponents. The Bulldogs completed the four-point weekend, which started with a 4-2 win at Union Friday night, by beating Rensselaer 3-2 Saturday afternoon at Houston Field House. The win included the first career goal for freshman defenseman Mallory Souliotis.

Rensselaer had scored the first seven goals of the game Friday night in a 7-5 win vs. Brown, but Saturday's first goal went to the Bulldogs. It will be a memorable one for Souliotis, whose brother Michael is a senior on the RPI men's golf team. After a wide shot, senior forward Jackie Raines tracked down the rebound at the boards by the right circle, then sent a pass across the ice to Souliotis just inside the blue line. Her one-timer snuck past Kelly O'Brien on the glove side to give Yale a 1-0 lead at 1:40 of the first.

Yale (6-6-1, 3-3-0 ECAC Hockey) killed off a penalty shortly after Souliotis' goal, then had a couple golden chances to extend the lead. First, O'Brien denied an attempt by junior forward Janelle Ferrara to stuff the puck in at the back door with 10 minutes left in the period. Three minutes later, O'Brien stopped sophomore forward Phoebe Staenz, who came in on goal all alone after grabbing a turnover in the Engineer zone.

RPI (3-12-2, 1-5-0 ECAC Hockey) tied the game on a goal by forward Laura Horwood at 14:51 of the first. After Horwood's initial shot went wide, her line mates Shayna Tomlinson and Ali Svoboda kept the puck alive in front of the net and Horwood was able to slip it past Yale senior goalie Jaimie Leonoff.

After killing off a pair of penalties in the second period, Yale got a 5-on-3 with 2:39 to play and took advantage of the power play -- twice. After Staenz sent a shot high, the Bulldogs maintained possession and Staenz and junior forward Jamie Haddad worked the puck up top to sophomore defenseman Taylor Marchin. She scored on a slap shot to put Yale ahead 2-1 at 17:48.

Still on the power play, this time with just a one-man advantage, the Bulldogs scored again at 19:01 when Ferrara sent the puck up top to senior defenseman Aurora Kennedy and she slid it through traffic and inside the far post. Sophomore forward Krista Yip-Chuck also assisted on the play.

A pair of penalties on the Engineers midway through the third helped keep RPI from mounting a comeback attempt. Leonoff made her best stop of the final frame by getting her leg out just far enough to turn aside a shot by forward Taylor Mahoney on a 2-on-1 with 4:30 to play.  

Rensselaer pulled O'Brien for an extra attacker with just over two minutes to play, and forward Alexa Gruschow was able to score a goal that added to the tension for the final 78 seconds.

With RPI still skating with an extra attacker Leonoff made a save on Hannah Behounek and covered the puck with 23 seconds left. After a shot was deflected into the net with 4.9 seconds left, RPI won the faceoff but was unable to get a shot on goal before the final horn sounded.

 Leonoff finished with 26 saves, while O'Brien made 19.

The two wins this weekend get Yale to the six-win mark at the earliest date since the 2004-05 season, when the Bulldogs won their sixth game of the season on Nov. 24.

Yale now takes a break for reading period and exams. The Bulldogs' next game is Friday, Jan. 2 vs. Dartmouth at Ingalls Rink.

Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity