Phillips Scores Two as Colgate Downs RPI, 2-1
By Kat Castner
(Troy, NY – Feb. 3, 2013) The Colgate women’s hockey team is heading to the ECAC Hockey playoffs thanks to two goals by senior Brittany Phillips. The Raiders defeated Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon, 2-1 in the season finale for both teams.
“I’m really happy for this group right now,” head coach Greg Fargo said. “Everyone was on board tonight and it was one of our most complete games from start to finish. We played composed and disciplined and our special teams and goaltending were rock solid again.”
Colgate (11-19-3, 6-13-3 ECAC) needed a win and a loss/tie from Princeton in order to move ahead of the Tigers in the standings, and that’s exactly what happened. The Raiders got the job done early scoring the game’s first goal during the initial period. They followed that up by adding a second marker in the middle frame to extend their advantage to two. Phillips tallied both goals, giving her 16 on the season.
“Going into the game we were just looking to control what we could in the playoff picture and we did just that,” Fargo added. “I’m really pleased for this group and especially the seniors that we’ll get a shot to compete for an ECAC Hockey Championship.”
The Raiders outshot the Engineers 25-20, including 11 shots in the first period. Colgate also killed off three RPI power plays throughout the game. Ashlynne Rando had another big day in net, pushing aside 19 shots.
Phillips got the Raiders on the board at 13:35 into the first frame. The unassisted goal came from just outside the left crease. She followed that up converting on a power play attempt in the middle period. The Engineers were called for checking, giving the Raiders a man-up opportunity. Nicole Gass slid the puck over to Miriam Drubel, who found Phillips between the circles. Phillips fired one past the RPI netminder at the 15:57 mark.
The Engineers made an offensive push in the final period, pressuring the Raiders defense. Every shot they put on frame was denied by Rando. The rookie made an impressive 10 saves in the last period to help her team to victory.
Rensselaer (10-20-4, 8-12-2 ECAC) ended up scoring their only goal with 19 seconds remaining in the final period. Jordan Smelker took it upon herself to get the Engineers on the scoreboard, ending Rando’s shutout hopes. RPI pulled the goalie at the 2:24 mark in the last frame to provide an extra attacker on the ice. They converted on the extra man opportunity, cutting the Raiders lead to 2-1, but the clock was not in their favor.
Colgate killed off the last 19 seconds of the game to secure the 2-1 win. Immediately the Raiders turned their attention to the Yale/Princeton game in which they needed the Tigers to either lose or tie. As the last couple seconds ticked off the clock in that game, the Raiders rejoiced, thanking the Bulldogs for a 4-2 win, giving Colgate the last playoff position.
The Raiders will be the eighth seed in next weekend’s first round and will travel to first-seed Cornell. The first round of the playoffs is a best-of-three series at the highest seed beginning on Friday at 7 p.m.