Gabi Jones' first goal of the season cemented a 3-0 victory for the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team over the RPI Engineers to open ECAC conference play on Friday night at Appleton Arena.
 
The beginning of the first period saw both teams trading chances to cash in the first goal of the game. Saints' goaltender Lucy Morgan and RPI's Amanda Rampado each came up big to keep the game scoreless.
 
SLU would completely grab the momentum in the middle-part of the period.

Julia Gosling received a cross ice pass from Suyeon Eom, skated into RPI's defensive zone, toe-dragged around a defender, and beat Rampado five-hole with a quick release to put the Saints ahead 1-0.
 
Three minutes later, the Scarlet and Brown would strike again. Abby Hustler fired home a slap shot off a nice faceoff play.
 
The Hustler, Gosling, and Anna Segedi line sparked the Saints, who controlled the play for the rest of the period. They had territorial possession throughout the period, which featured two Saints power plays.
 
SLU's power play had beautiful puck movement and some great chances, but Rampado came up big multiple times. She showcased her athletic ability on an acrobatic backdoor save on the Saints first power play.
 
After two periods, the shots were 21 to 10 in favor of the Saints.
 
RPI had their best shifts of the game to start of last frame, but Morgan and the Saints' defense held strong.
 
Jones would capitalize on the momentum from St. Lawrence's defensive and penalty-kill efforts were capitalized on moments later.
 
"I wouldn't have gotten such a great opportunity if we hadn't done an all-around great job killing off a big penalty in the third," said Jones.
 
Jones' great individual effort secured the Scarlet and Brown's victory. She carried the puck into the Engineers' zone, used great edge work to maneuver around an RPI defender, and snuck her shot under Rampado's blocker.
 
"The puck popped out in a great place and gave me lots of room to skate. I was able to get around the defense and tuck it short side. It was an amazing feeling to get my first goal of the season in Appleton!" she added.


 
Morgan finished with 17 saves for her 11th career shutout and Rampado finished with 23 saves.
 
"It was very important to get off to a good start and score early," said head coach Chris Wells. "We had great pressure on net the last few games so to be able to score was just what we needed. Gosling, Segedi, and Hustler were able to get some rewards for their efforts, and Gabi scored a nice one to finish it off."
 
The all-around team win powered the Saints in their first ECAC conference game of the season, as the Scarlet and Brown improved to 5-4-0 overall and 1-0-0 with the victory, and RPI fell to 2-7-0 and 0-1-0.
 
"First three points of the year in what looks to be a competitive season in the ECAC," Wells described.
 
The Scarlet and Brown return to ECAC play tomorrow against Union at 3:00 p.m. at Appleton Arena.