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HAMILTON, N.Y. (1/28/11) – The Colgate women's hockey team secured its fifth ECAC win of the season when it shutout Rensselaer 2-0 at home on Friday night. This was the Raiders' fourth shutout win of the season.

Junior Kimberly Sass had 21 saves in her fourth career shutout win, while classmate Amanda Kirwan scored the game-winning goal for the Raiders. Sophomores Jenna Klynstra and Brittany Phillips registered two points each in the game, with Klynstra scoring the second goal.

Rensselaer got off to an explosive start, creating a series of scoring opportunities and forcing Colgate (8-16-2, 5-9-1) to play defense for the first five minutes of the period. With the excitement of the fans behind them, the Raiders soon found their rhythm, testing the Engineers' goaltender with some tough shots but could not find the net. Their hard work soon paid off however, at the 12:42 mark when Kirwan picked up a pass from Klynstra and fired the puck top shelf to give Colgate the 1-0 lead. Phillips was also credited with an assist.

In the second frame, both teams came out playing aggressively with Rensselaer looking for its first goal and the Raiders looking to extend their lead. The Engineers fired the first shot but then Colgate replied with five straight shots in the next few minutes with none finding the net. Both teams continued to battle it out on the ice, with the Raiders creating majority of the scoring opportunities as they outshot their opponent 12-5. However, as the period came to a close, it remained scoreless with Colgate holding its 1-0 lead into the final frame.

Carrying their offensive momentum into the final 20 minutes of play, the Raiders came out to an explosive start, finding the net off a 5-on-3 advantage just 29 seconds into the period. Senior Jessi Waters received a pass from Phillips and then sent it across the goal line to Klynstra on the far post, who knocked it home to give Colgate the 2-0 advantage. The teams continued to play a physical game, as Rensselaer desperately looked for a first goal, but in the end it was the Raiders that proved to be the stronger team, defeating the Engineers 2-0.

Colgate will resume play tomorrow when it hosts Union at 4 p.m. in Starr Rink. The team will once again be wearing the special puzzle-piece jerseys designed for their Autism Awareness Project in Saturday's game. For more information about the project, please visit www.colgate.edu/autism.