The St. Lawrence University women's hockey team exploded for four third-period goals en route to a 5-1 win over the RPI Engineers, with Kennedy Marchment leading the way with two goals and one assist on Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena.

Rachael Smith's beautiful power play goal at 4:57 of the third period stood as the game-winner for the Saints, who outshot their visitors 30-19.

"We're starting to make some plays," said Saints head coach Chris Wells '92. "Special teams played a big part, (with) the two power play goals to start (the third) and our 5-on-3 kill was fantastic."

Justine Reyes opened the scoring with her 13th goal of the season at the 8:58 mark of the first period, when she wired a wrist shot past RPI goaltender Lovisa Selander.

St. Lawrence netminder Grace Harrison was then called into action, denying RPI forward Blake Orosz on a breakaway later in the first frame.

After a scoreless second period, Smith's marker on the man advantage — a pretty wrist shot past a screened Selander — gave the Saints a two-goal cushion at 4:57 of the third period.

Marchment then made it 3-0 at the 7:11 mark, knocking a loose puck past the prone Selander for her eighth goal of the campaign.

RPI responded just 50 seconds later through Sabrina Repaci, who bundled in her third goal of the season from close range.

Marchment's second of the night, a shorthanded breakaway goal into an empty net with just 1:34 to play, sealed the win for St. Lawrence before first-year Natalie Wozney scored her first career goal with 20 seconds remaining.

"I was kind of passing it to (Maggie McLaughlin), but then I missed it, so I shot it and it went in — pure excitement," said Wozney, a Whitby, Ontario, native. "It's been so exciting being here, meeting everyone, (and) going to work at practice every day has been great."

Defenseman Jacquie Diffley notched her first point of the season, an assist, on Wozney's goal.

The Saints moved to 12-7-3 overall and 8-3-1 in ECAC Hockey play with the win, while Rensselaer fell to 7-11-5, 4-5-2.

Harrison stopped 18 of 19 shots en route to her seventh win of the season, while Selander allowed four goals on 29 shots in taking the loss for RPI.

The Saints were nearly perfect on special teams, scoring on 2-of-3 power play opportunities and going 7-for-7 on the penalty kill with one shorthanded goal. The Saints killed off one minute and nine seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage late in the third period while holding a 3-1 lead.

St. Lawrence will hit the road the next two weekends, first to Dartmouth and Harvard (Jan. 19-20) and then to Colgate and Cornell (Jan. 26-27).

"We have 10 games left, so we've got to go after two points at a time," said Wells. "This is going to be a good game at Dartmouth, playing against Joe (Marsh) who coached here for years. I like the way (our) team has progressed over the January break."