Leonoff Makes 31 Saves

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale women's ice hockey team improved to 4-2-0 in its last six games with a 5-0 win vs. Rensselaer Friday night at Ingalls Rink. With the victory, the Bulldogs kept pace in the ECAC Hockey standings, as they remain tied for seventh with Dartmouth with three games to play. They also clinched a berth in the ECAC Hockey playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Yale (12-13-1, 9-10-0 ECAC Hockey) grabbed a 1-0 lead at 14:23 of the first when senior forward Stephanie Mock jammed in a rebound. Junior defenseman Kate Martini and freshman forward Eden Murray assisted on the play.

The teams were skating four-on-four when Yale struck again. Rensselaer goalie Kelly O'Brien got a piece of sophomore Taylor Marchin's blast from the right circle, but the puck popped loose over her head and went over the goal line to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 at 5:46. Freshman defenseman Mallory Souliotis and junior forward Jamie Haddad assisted.

The Bulldogs had to kill off 46 seconds of a 5-on-3 later in the period. They did so thanks to a Haddad interception and clear that helped prevent the Engineers from getting off any shots with the two-man advantage.

With the RPI advantage back to one skater, senior goalie Jaimie Leonoff smothered a wrister from RPI forward Alexa Gruschow to finish off the remainder of the kill.

A power play then enabled the Bulldogs to extend their lead, as a cross-ice pass from senior Jackie Raines set up Murray for a shot that eluded the screened O'Brien to make the score 3-0 Yale. Marchin also assisted on the play.

Leonoff denied a breakaway chance for RPI forward Shayna Tomlinson with just over two minutes to play in the second, helping the Bulldogs keep their 3-0 lead into the third period. She also reacted quickly to stop a shot from the slot by Tomlinson a minute into the third, and Rensselaer (5-22-4, 3-15-1 ECAC Hockey) struggled to mount any threats after that.

Haddad put the game out of reach with a top-shelf snipe with 14:01 to play, assisted by junior forward Janelle Ferrara and Raines. That prompted RPI to send in Brianna Piper in relief of O'Brien. Raines knocked in a rebound of a shot by Staenz with Yale on the power play at 13:42 to make the score 5-0 Yale. Murray assisted on the play.

Leonoff made a point-blank diving save on forward Katie Rooney with six minutes to play. Shortly after that RPI went with its third goalie of the night, Sara Till.  Leonoff finished the shutout with 31 saves.

Yale hosts Union Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

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