ROCHESTER, NY – Junior goaltender #Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs)# made a season-high 42 saves, including 20 in the third period, as the RIT women's hockey team (8-5-1, 4-0-1 CHA) extended its Division I team record unbeaten streak to five games with a 2-1 win over No. 10 Mercyhurst (7-5-2, 2-2-1 CHA) at Ritter Arena on Friday afternoon.

#Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas)# scored a pair of first period goals for the Tigers, who defeated the Lakers for the first time in five meetings. It is also the first time RIT has defeated a nationally-ranked opponent. #Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres)# assisted on both RIT goals, while #Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) and Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets)# also drew assists.

The two goals for McCrea give her 50 in three seasons. She becomes the ninth player in the history of RIT women's hockey to score 50 in a career.

Binnington was tremendous for the Tigers, especially in the third period, when Mercyhurst out-shot RIT 20-9. She made a tremendous pad save on a tip-in attempt by Emily Janiga with just under 15 minutes left, then robbed Bailey Bram in front 20 seconds later.

Binnington is now 8-3-1 in 2013-14 with a 1.88 goals against average and .935 save percentage. In her last seven games, Binnington is 6-0-1 with a 0.85 goals against average and .966 save percentage.

Mercyhurst pulled goaltender Amanda Makela with 1:35 left and had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:15 and ended with a 6-on-4. Binnington and the RIT penalty-killing unit did a tremendous job blocking shots all game. Overall, RIT blocked 24 shots, including a team-high eight by Grigg.

Mercyhurst out-shot RIT, 43-24. The Lakers were 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 1-for-8.

Janiga scored Mercyhurst's lone goal midway through the first period, while Makela made 22 saves in the loss.
RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald was thrilled to earn a big win over the Lakers.

"It's a great feeling in a game like today's that was real tight against a great opponent to come out on top," said McDonald. "It was great to see our players compete at such a high level, and battle for loose pucks, and block shots late to hang on to the lead when (Mercyhurst) had us hemmed in our own zone. These two points are huge and beating a ranked team that has been tops on our conference for such a long time feels good."

Both teams used the power-play to its advantage in the opening period, as RIT led 2-1 after 40 minutes of play.

RIT did not score on its first power-play, but kept the puck in the zone and 16 seconds after the man-advantage ended, took a 1-0 lead at the 9:25 mark, as McCrea slammed home a rebound after the original shot by Scoyne was blocked out front. Kunichika fed a pass to Scoyne at the point, who had her shot blocked. The carom came right to McCrea, who was all alone in front, and fired in her fifth goal of the season.

The Lakers came right back four minutes later on a power-play of their own, as Janiga slammed home a loose puck in the crease just past Binnington that came to rest an inch over the goal line to tie the game. Jillian Skinner fired a shot from the point that Binnington stopped. The rebound came to Christie Cicero, who had her stuff in attempt stopped, but Janiga was just able to tap it in for her sixth goal of the year.

Scoyne and McCrea struck again later in the period on the power-play to give RIT a 2-1 lead. Scoyne had a good low shot stopped by Makela, but once again, McCrea was unmarked right in front to jam in the rebound for her sixth goal of the season.

Binnington had to come up big moments later, as she robbed Bestland on a partial breakaway. Christine Bestland tried to slip the shot between Binnington's legs, but the RIT goaltender was up to the task.

Despite three second period power-plays, RIT could muster just five shots in the second period, as Mercyhurst started to gain the territorial edge. Binnington was excellent in the period, stopping all 12 shots she faced. Her best save came on Cicero midway through the frame, as she fired a hard shot from the slot that the RIT goaltender gobbled up. Binnington then robbed Cicero on the rebound.

Later in the period, Binnington had to come up big once again when Kaleigh Chippy was able to walk into the slot a rip a shot that was gobbled up.

"Ali (Binnington) was our back bone, she was on her game today, and when she is, she's as good as anyone in the country," said McDonald. "Our defense and forward also did a great job blocking shots and getting in shooting lanes."

Mercyhurst won all four meetings between the two schools last season by a combined 22-5. The Lakers defeated RIT in their first two Division I games at Ritter Arena by scores of 6-2 and 7-0 and ended the regular season with 4-1 and 5-2 win at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Heading into today, the Lakers were 372-103-32 since becoming a Division I program in 1999. Mercyhurst has made nine straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Frozen Four berth last season and are 146-10-10 in CHA play.

"We can't be satisfied knowing we have one win against them going into tomorrow," said McDonald. "We know Mercyhurst is going to be extremely fired up and we have to be even better tomorrow."

The two teams meet on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ritter Arena to complete the weekend series. RIT travels to play a two-game series at Mercyhurst on Feb. 7-8, 2014 to complete the regular season series.