Women's Hockey | 3/5/2011 5:04:00 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – The top seeded RIT women's hockey team (23-1-2) set a program record by winning its 23rd game of the season, defeating sixth seed Utica (13-14-0), 2-0 in the ECAC West semifinal contest on Saturday afternoon at Ritter Arena. The Tigers advance to the ECAC West Championship for the first time since moving to the conference in 2007. RIT will face SUNY Plattsburgh in the championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The winner of Sunday's game will earn an automatic bid into the 2011 NCAA Tournament, which gets underway on March 12.
Kourtney Kuncihika scored in the final minute of the first period and #
Sarah Dagg (St. George, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks)# scored an empty-net goal with 39 seconds left for the Tigers. Dagg's goal was her 151st career point, two shy of the school record, held by
Alysia Park (Dallas, TX/Aspen Avalanche), who played from 2001-05.
Freshman goaltender #
Laura Chamberlain (Norco, CA/LA Selects)# stopped all 19 shots she faced for her sixth shutout of the season, improving to 15-1-2. She made her best save of the game with 5:52 left in regulation, robbing Megan Myers, who was wide open in front. Chamberlain smothered the shot and did not allow a rebound.
Dagg put the game away with 39 seconds left, scoring an empty net, power-play goal after #
Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) found her wide open at the Utica blue-line. (Pittsburgh, PA/Mountour)Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons)# also assisted on the goal, Dagg's team-leading 18th of the year.
RIT out-shot Utica, 42-19, and was 1-for-4 on the power-play. The Tigers held Utica scoreless in three attempts with the man-advantage.
Utica goaltender Marissa Hotaling, who made 51 saves in the win over Elmira last weekend to help her team advance, was equally as strong this afternoon, stopping 40 shots.
RIT Head Coach
Scott McDonald is happy to be moving on to the championship game.
"We were really impressed with how well Utica played today," said McDonald. "This was a nailbiter until the final seconds. Both teams played hard, physical, and it was everything you would want in a playoff game. We are excited to be playing in our first ECAC West Championship game. It should be another great game."
Both teams had chances in the opening 20 minutes of play, with RIT breaking through with 14.7 seconds left in the frame to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Kunichika tipped in a point shot by #
Danielle Read (Brantford, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks)# that squeezed through the arm of Hotaling, who had been brilliant in the period. #
Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects)# also assisted on the goal, Kunichika's ninth of the year and second in the last two games.
Hotaling was tremendous early on, making a handful of tremendous saves, including three on Stack from in tight. Stack had five shots in the first period.
Chamberlain had to come up big a few times, robbing Carmen Johnson on a partial breakaway midway through the period, then making two huge saves on Meghan McMahon in front on a power-play.
Hotaling kept RIT off the board in a scoreless second period, stopping all 16 shots she faced. Her best save of the period came on Yokoyama in front after a great feed from Kunichika.
Stack fired a team-high 10 shots in the win.
RIT improves to 12-2-0 all-time against the Pioneers. The Tigers went 3-0 against Utica this season, winning 5-2 and 4-1 on the road on Nov. 13-14.
The Tigers have now allowed just 22 goals in 26 games. They have outscored foes 133-22 this season.
RIT last hosted a conference tournament in 2007, its final year in the ECAC East conference. RIT also made the NCAA Tournament that season.
Second seeded Plattsburgh (20-3-3) defeated fourth-seeded Neumann (16-7-4), 2-1 in the second semifinal on Saturday evening. Steph Moon scored a disputed goal with 2:09 remaining for the Cardinals to break a 1-1 tie. Plattsburgh out-shot Neumann 41-18. Jasper Thomson scored for the Knights. Teal Gove also scored for the Cardinals, who reach the ECAC West Championship game for the 10th streaight season.
