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GRAND FORKS, ND – The RIT women's hockey team (6-6-2) put up a valiant effort, giving No. 8 North Dakota (10-5-0) all they could handle, but the Tigers fell in defeat, 3-2 in front of 941 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Friday evening.

Monique Lamoureux broke a 2-2 tie with her second goal of the game 2:08 into the third period on the power-play, converting on a rebound after RIT goaltender #Laura Chamberlain (Norco, CA/LA Selects)# made the initial save on a shot by Josefine Jakobse.

RIT would not quit however, and despite mustering just two shots on goal in the final period, kept coming, and had a few great chances late. RIT pulled Chamberlain for the extra skater with 1:30 left and kept the puck in the North Dakota zone for nearly the entire time. The one time North Dakota cleared, #Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons)# made a tremendous diving effort to thwart an attempt for an empty-net goal.

#Katie Hubert (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas)# was stuffed by North Dakota goaltender Jorid Dagfinrud with just over a minute left. With 35 seconds left, a shot from the side boards caromed off the skate of #Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury)# in front and past Dagfinrud, off the left post, across the goal line and out. RIT kept pressuring, but could not get the tying goal.

North Dakota out-shot RIT. 28-17. Chamberlain, despite the loss, was brilliant, as many of her 25 saves were of the highlight reel variety, keeping RIT in the game.

Senior captain #Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury)# moved closer to becoming the ninth Tiger with 100 career points, as she recorded a goal and an assist to lead the way offensively for the Tigers. She now has 98 career points (32-66-98) in 101 career games.

Kourtney Kuncihika also scored for RIT, a highlight reel goal in the second period.

Monique Lamoureux led North Dakota with two goals and an assist. Jakobse had two assists, while Michelle Karvinen added a goal. In net, Dagfinrud made 15 saves.

RIT was 1-for-3 with the man-advantage, while North Dakota was 2-for-5.

RIT Head Coach #Scott McDonald# was very happy with how his team played, despite the loss.

"I was really pleased with how the team played tonight, we gave a great effort, and competed really well tonight," said McDonald. "Laura (Chamberlain) was outstanding and gave our team a chance to win. Unfortunately, we left a couple of their best players alone at the wrong time and that was the difference."

The Tigers started slow in the opening period, but played a great final five minutes, as North Dakota held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

RIT ran into penalty problems early, and North Dakota made them pay, as Monique Lamoureux picked up a loose puck at the side of the net off a rebound in front and beat Chamberlain, who had no chance on the play at the 7:47 mark to make it 1-0. Jocelyne Lamoreux fired a shot that Jakobsen tipped from in front off a Tiger defenseman. The puck caromed around and right to the stick of Monique Lamoureux, who had nothing but net for her 10th goal of the year.

Chamberlain made a great save on Jocelyne Lamoureux with seven minutes left in the first to keep it 1-0. Lamoureux tried to put the puck over Chamberlain on a break, but RIT's goaltender held her ground and smothered the shot.

Karvinen made it 2-0 North Dakota at the 14:45 mark, as RIT turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Monique Lamoureux sped into the RIT zone, flew by a defenseman on the right wing and fed a perfect goal-mouth feed to Karvinen, who was easily able to tap the pass past Chamberlain for her third goal of the year.

The goal seemed to wake RIT up, as they carried play for the final five minutes of the period and cut North Dakota's lead in half.

On successive shifts, Kuncihika and #Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets)# had great chances from in front stopped by Dagfinrud.

Schlattman got RIT on the board with her team-best seventh goal of the season and 97th career point at the 16:27 mark. #Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons) fired a shot from the left point that (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers)Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder)# tipped towards the net. The puck then, glanced off Grigg's skate in front, right to Schlattman, who was all by herself, with nothing but an open net and the senior captain cut the North Dakota lead in half.

Chamberlain was tremendous in the middle period, stopping all 10 shots she faced, while RIT tallied a power-play goal to even the game at 2-2 after two periods of play.

Both goalies had to make big saves on partial breakaways seconds apart to open the second period. Chamberlain robbed Jocelyne Lamoureux on a breakaway, then Daginfrud stuck the right pad out to stone Zach, as she darted around a North Dakota defender to come in alone.

Chamberlain made an amazing left pad save on Jocelyne Lamoureux as the North Dakota forward got behind the RIT defense seven minutes into the period.

Kunichika scored a highlight reel goal on the power-play at the 8:57 mark, as she out-muscled a North Dakota forward at the left wall, skated in used a head fake and deked the puck around and in Dagfinrud at the goal line for her second goal of the year to tie the game. Schlattman and #Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects)# assisted on the goal.

North Dakota took it to the Tigers for the rest of the period, especially on a power-play later in the period, but Chamberlain was tremendous. In the final seconds, North Dakota came in on a 2-on-1, but a Tiger defenseman got just enough of a centering pass to keep the puck out of the net.

Tonight's contest was the first meeting between the two schools. North Dakota went 22-12-3 and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Both Lamoureux sisters won a Silver medal with the United States Olympic Women's Hockey Team in 2010.

The two teams meet once again on Saturday evening at 8:07 p.m. EST.