Women's Hockey | 10/1/2013 3:06:00 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team returns to action on Friday and Saturday with a pair of road contests. On Friday, the Tigers play at the University of New Hampshire at 7 p.m. and face No. 10 Northeastern on Saturday at 3 p.m.
RIT (0-1-0) opened the season by falling to No. 3 Clarkson by a score of 12-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers defeated the Toronto Jr. Aeros 5-2 in an exhibition contest on Friday. On Saturday, #
Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury)# scored RIT's lone goal, while five different players scored for the Tigers in Friday's victory. Clarkson is the highest ranked team that RIT has played in its short Division I history.
The Tigers return 14 players from last season's squad that finished 16-16-5 and advanced to the College Hockey America Semifinals in their first Division I season. RIT is just two seasons removed from winning the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championship.
New Hampshire enters the weekend with a 1-1-0 mark after splitting a season-opening series at St. Lawrence last weekend. The Wildcats opened the season with a 4-2 loss on Friday, then rebounded to defeat St. Lawrence 2-1 behind 41 saves from goaltender Vilma Vaattovaara on Saturday. Sara Carlson leads the team in scoring with a goal and an assist this season. New Hampshire returns 18 letterwinners from last year's team that went 14-16-4 overall and finished fourth in the Hockey East standings with a 10-8-3 league record. The Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the 2013-14 Hockey East Preseason coaches poll.
Northeastern returns 17 letterwinners from last year's squad that finished 23-11-2, and will look to four 20-point scorers from last season to fill the void left by the departure of its top three scorers from a season ago. On Sunday, the Huskies defeated McGill University in an exhibition contest, 1-0. Leading the way for the 2013-14 Huskies is captain Maggie Brennolt and assistant captains Brittany Esposito and Sonia St. Martin. In net, Chloe Desjardins returns after posting a 21-9-2 mark with a 2.58 goals against average and .913 save percentage in 2012-13. Northeastern was picked to finish third in the 2013-14 Hockey East Preseason coaches poll.
RIT is 0-13-0 all-time against New Hampshire and 0-11-0 against Northeastern, but has not met either school since the 1994-95 season.
