St. Lawrence University junior Kelly Sabatine and sophomore Rylee Smith combined for four goals and two assists on Saturday, leading the Saints women's hockey team to a 6-3 victory over Rensselaer at Appleton Arena.

The Saints finish the 2011 portion of their season with an 8-7-3 (5-4-1) record. The Engineers, who tried to dig out of a four-goal deficit in the fourth period, fall to 4-12-4 (1-5-2).

"Our offense continued to produce good chances and we were able to finish on some quality bids," said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells. "Rensselaer really worked hard and got back into the game in the third period."

St. Lawrence game out of the gate rolling, outshooting RPI 10-3 in the first period en route to a 3-0 lead through 20:00 minutes. Smith opened the scoring with an unassisted breakaway goal at 7:50 of the first, while captain Karell Emard's great pass to Sabatine set up an easy finish at 15:01. Sophomore defenseman Mel Desrochers would snipe her fourth goal of the campaign at 17:22 to cap the scoring, beating Engineer goalie Brianna Piper's glove on a wrist shot from the slot.

The visitors would settle in during the second period, as Rensselaer owned an 11-6 shot advantage and scored the first goal of the second period to make the game 3-1. Andie Le Donne's slap shot from outside the right circle trickled through the leg pads of St. Lawrence goalie Carmen MacDonald across the line for her third tally of the season, with an assist going to Jordan Smelker.

However, the Scarlet and Brown would rebound with back-to-back goals to close the period and take a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. Sabatine's second goal of the game came off a 3-on-2, with assists going to Smith and junior Brooke Fernandez to push the lead to 4-1 at 6:17. Then, in the later stages of the third, senior Vanessa Emond's slick behind-the-back centering pass set up junior Michelle Ng perfectly, who one-timed a shot past Piper for a 5-1 cushion. Ng's second goal of the year came at 16:05.

The Engineers would quickly cut their deficit back to two goals at 5-3 only 4:14 into the third period. Jill Vandegrift pounced on a rebound in front of MacDonald and buried her fifth tally of the year at 2:22, while Alisa Harrison's breakaway scored pulled RPI to within a pair of goals at 5-3 at 4:14.

The St. Lawrence defense would stand its ground, though, and a minor penalty on RPI seemed to stall the team's momentum. Smith's empty net goal at 17:05 locked up the win for St. Lawrence, despite being outshot 21-14 over the final two periods.

Emard and Fernandez both finished with assists in the game for St. Lawrence. MacDonald closed with 21 saves to earn the win, while Piper closed with 18 stops in the loss. RPI was 1-of-5 on the power play and St. Lawrence finished 0-for-2.

Both St. Lawrence and Rensselaer will take the ice early in 2012. The Saints will face-off against Cornell in an exhibition game in Akwesasne, NY on January 2 before returning to regular season play on Thursday, January 5 at Boston College. The Engineers will open 2012 at home in Troy, NY against Colgate University on Friday, January 6.