Jan. 20, 2006

Stats

DETROIT, Mich. - The Wayne State women's hockey team (7-12-1 overall) broke its six-game winless streak with a victory over Rensselaer, 2-1, on Friday evening at the Michigan State Fairgrounds.

It marks just the second loss of the season for the Engineers, who came to Detroit riding a five-game winning streak.

Kristy Leng (Lindenhurst, Ill./Wisconsin Wild) opened the scoring for the Warriors with her second goal of the season. Assistant captain Peyton Patterson (Brampton, Ont./Toronto Sting) sent a pass from the corner to Melissa Boal (Pakenham, Ont./Ottawa Raiders) out at the blue line. Boal then fed Leng down low, and the sophomore forward made a nice move to beat RPI goaltender Rosina Schiff high on the glove side at 3:37 in the first period to give the Warriors the early 1-0 advantage.

With her assist, Boal now has 26 points and at least one point in every series this season.

Despite the one-goal deficit and having to kill a 5-on-3 situation, RPI held a 9-8 lead in shots on goal after the first 20 minutes of play.

The Engineers had several scoring chances early in the second period, including a breakaway by Nicole McDonald at 3:36, which was stopped by Warrior goaltender Tiffany Thompson (Dryden, Ont./Thunder Bay Queens). Thompson, making her third consecutive start, had 20 saves overall in the contest.

Wayne State extended its lead to 2-0 on a goal from Sam Poyton (Hamilton, Ont./Stoney Creek Sabres), who received a centering pass from Laura Monk (Mississauga, Ont./Stoney Creek Sabres) and sent an off-balance wrist shot past RPI goaltender Rosina Schiff low off the far post at 4:20.

For Poyton, it marks her 16th goal of the season, which sets a new WSU single-season record. The goal also gave Monk her fourth assist in the last five games.

Much like her counterpart did two minutes prior, Schiff came up with a big save on a Lindsay DiPietro (Manotick, Ont./Ottawa Lady Senators) breakaway to keep the Engineers within reach. Schiff had 28 saves in the game.

Each squad was forced to withstand a 5-on-3 situation in the second period, and did so successfully.

Jamie-Lyn Stewart broke up the shutout on a power play at 12:18 in the third period with her eighth goal of the season. Defenseman Melanie Guillemette skated up the boards before leaving the puck behind for teammate Brooke Thompson, who carried it into the corner. She sent a pass to Stewart out to the left of Tiffany Thompson, and Stewart sent it in low and inside the far post to narrow the Warriors' lead to 2-1.

WSU killed another penalty and held RPI in check, as the Engineers sent Schiff to the bench for an extra attacker with 1:07 to play, to seal the victory in the first-ever meeting between the squads.

RPI finished with one power-play goal in seven chances, while Wayne State went scoreless in seven power-play opportunities.

These two squads will meet again tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., in the second of back-to-back doubleheaders with WSU men's hockey at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum.