Women's Hockey | 2/27/2010 4:11:00 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team (19-4-3), ranked fourth in Division III, scored three times in the first 8:40 en route to a 5-0 win over SUNY Potsdam (9-15-1) in first round action of the ECAC West Tournament on Saturday afternoon. RIT has now won nine straight games.
This is RIT's first playoff win as a member of the ECAC West conference. The Tigers were the No. 2 seed the last two seasons, earning a bye, but losing in the semifinals each time. This season, RIT is the No. 3 seed and no problem dispatching Potsdam, the No. 6 seed.
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Katie Stack (Batavia, NY/Rochester Edge)# scored twice and added two assists for the Tigers, who out-shot Potsdam, 46-8, including 20-0 in the third period.
Stack now has 31 goals, first in the nation, and one away from tying the school record of 32, set by
Danielle Nagymarosi (Uxbridge, Ontario/Uxbridge Tigers) in 2006-07. She is now also just points shy of becoming the eighth player in the history of the RIT women's program to notch 100 for her career. Teammate #
Sarah Dagg (St. George, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks)# became the seventh to do so on Feb. 7 against Chatham.
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Kayla Ross (Altoona, PA/Gilmour Academy)#,
Kylie Mazzetta (Lakewood, CO/Colorado Selects)#, and #
Traci Galbraith (Oakville, Ontario/Burlington Jr. Barracudas) also scored for the Tigers. (Tinley Park, IL)Missy Hall (Chesterland, OH/Gilmour Academy)# added two assists.
Dagg recorded one assist to extend her point streak to nine games. She has 20 points (7-13-20) during that streak. She did have her six-game goal scoring streak snapped. Dagg leads the nation with 45 points.
RIT goaltender #
Carley King (Tinley Park, IL)# stopped all eight shots she faced for her 10th win and third shutout of the season. The Tigers now have six shutouts as a team in 2009-10.
RIT came out strong, scoring three times in the first 8:40 to take a 3-0 lead into the intermission.
Stack scored just 56 seconds into the contest, slipping home a rebound off a shot from #
Shireen Irani (Calgary, Alberta/PSA Chaos)# for her 30th goal of the season. Hall fed Irani who skated in from the point and ripped a shot that was blocked, but the rebound came right to Stack who had an open net in close.
Stack made it 2-0 at the 4:17 mark, slamming home a rebound from the slot after Galbraith had a point shot stopped by Hitchman.
Stack registered her third point of the period, assisting on a goal by Ross. Ross took a feed from Stack at the left point, found a seam and ripped a hard slap shot off the crossbar and in. Hall also assisted on the goal, Ross' ninth of the season at the 8:40 mark of the first period.
RIT made it 4-0 13:24 into the second period, as Mazzetta took a perfect cross ice feed from Arianne Yokoyama at the right face-off circle and one-timed the shot past Hitchman for her third goal of the year. Dagg also assisted on the goal.
Galbraith completed the scoring with 10:07 left in regulation, ripping a point shot past a screened Hitchman for her fourth goal of the season. Stack and Ross assisted on the goal.
Hitchman was solid in net for the Bears, stopping 41 shots.
RIT won all three games against the Bears this season, outscoring them, 28-3. RIT posted 6-2 and 17-1 wins against Potsdam on Nov. 20-21. RIT has won all five meetings between the two schools, since Potsdam moved back into the collegiate hockey last season.
The Tigers travel to Plattsburgh next weekend to play in the ECAC West Final Four. RIT will play No. 3 Elmira in a semifinal contest at a time to be determined on Saturday.
