Women's Hockey | 2/18/2009 10:18:00 AM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The No. 3 RIT women's hockey team will host the Buffalo State Bengals in a pair of ECAC West contests on Friday and Saturday at the Ritter Arena. Friday's game starts at 7:05 p.m., while Saturday's contest will be played at 5:05 p.m. Both games will be aired by Time Warner Cable Sports for local subscribers in the Rochester and Buffalo areas. RIT is the top-ranked team in the NCAA East Region rankings.
Gene Battaglia will call the action, while Dan Casazza will serve as the color-commentator. Friday's game will air on Saturday morning at 9 a.m., just hours before Saturday's live broadcast of the 5:05 p.m. game.
RIT (19-2-2, 13-2-1 ECAC West) ran its winning streak to six games after sweeping SUNY Cortland this past weekend. The Tigers are 3-2-1 against nationally-ranked teams this season, and enjoyed a week at #2 in the national poll, their highest ranking in program history. RIT has not lost a game in February and looks to improve that win streak to eight against the Bengals.
RIT is the highest scoring team in the nation, averaging 4.83 goals per game. They are outscoring foes by 2.96 goals per game, third best in Division III. Sophomore
#Katie Stack (Batavia, NY/Rochester Edge)# (Batavia, NY/Rochester Edge) leads the nation with five short-handed goals, while RIT leads the nation with 11 total, just one shy of its team record of 12, set last season. RIT's power play is fifth in the nation, converting at 23.4 percent (32-for-137). Senior
#Keltie Jones (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Jr. Barracudas)# (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Jr. Barracudas) is tied for third in the nation with 22 assists, while sophomore
#Sarah Dagg (St. George, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks)# (St. George, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks) is fifth nationally with 35 points (16-19-35). Senior goaltender
#Sandra Grant (Abbotsford, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers)# (Abbotsford, British Columbia/Pacific Steelers) moved into fourth all-time at RIT in wins with 27, and is fifth in the nation with a .812 win percentage. The Tigers have 15 players in double-figures for points this season.
Buffalo State (2-16-4, 2-10-4 ECAC West) is currently eighth in the ECAC West standings. The Bengals are led by sophomore Marissa McMullan with 11 points (7-4-11), sophomore Gillian Toneguzzo with 9 points (2-7-9) and freshman Briana Murphy with eight points (5-3-8). Sophomore goaltender
Alyssa Koniar (Milwaukee, WI/Wisconsin Wild), who played for RIT last season, is 43rd in the nation with a .905 save percentage.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-1-1. Last season, the Tigers took the weekend series at Buffalo State, earning 2-0 and 3-1 wins.
