Women's Hockey | 1/15/2014 8:37:00 AM

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ROCHESTER, NY – For the second straight Friday, the RIT women's hockey team will play College Hockey America rival Syracuse University. The Tigers will travel to Tennity Ice Pavilion to play the Orange in a big league game that gets underway at 7 p.m. on Friday.
 
Last Friday, the Tigers snapped a five-game winless streak with a dramatic 4-3 win over Syracuse at Ritter Arena. The game was tied 3-3 before #Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School)# broke in on a shorthanded rush, deked a Syracuse defenseman to come in on a breakaway and roofed a shot top shelf over the Orange goaltender with 1:17 left in regulation, lifting RIT to its first win over Syracuse. It was RIT's first shorthanded goal of the 2013-14 season. Clayton was named the CHA Rookie of the Week on Monday.
 
#Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects)# became the 11th player in the history of the RIT women's hockey program to reach the 50-goal plateau, while #Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) and Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) also scored. (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate)Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit)# made 31 saves to record her first CHA win. RIT tied a season-high with three power-play goals in the win.
 
Six Tigers have at least 10 points this season. Kunichika and McCrea leads the team in scoring with 15 points apiece, while Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning) and Zach are right behind with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
 
The Tigers play their final 11 games, all against College Hockey America opponents, starting tonight. RIT is currently third in the CHA standings, three points ahead of Syracuse. The top two teams receive a bye into the CHA semifinals.

Syracuse (11-9-2, 3-4-2 CHA) is looking to close ground on RIT in the CHA standings. The Orange is outscoring their opponents, 56-49 this season. On Tuesday, Syracuse defeated Colgate, 2-0 in a non-conference road contest. Caitlin Roach and Nicole Renault lead the team in scoring with 16 points apiece. Jessica Sibley, Melissa Piacentini, and Nicole Ferrara have seven goals each to lead the squad. The Orange has six players with at least 10 points. In net, Kallie Billadeau and Jenesica Drinkwater have split time. Billadeau is 4-7-2 with a 2.12 goals against average and .933 save percentage, while Drinkwater is 7-2-0 with a 2.00 goals against average and .918 save percentage.
 
Friday's game is the second of four meetings between the two schools, including a home-and-home to close out the regular season on Feb. 21-22. Syracuse leads the all-time series between the two schools, 4-1-1. All six meetings between the two schools have ended in either a tie or one-goal difference.
  
Friday's game will be streamed online by America One. Live stats will also be available here.
 
On Jan. 25, RIT will wear special jerseys that will be auctioned off online as part of CHA's "Skate for the Cure". RIT will team up with Autism Up to raise money for the organization in its game against Lindenwood at 2 p.m. that day.