ROCHESTER, NY – Senior captain Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) and sophomore Lindsay Stenason (Oakville, Ontario/Appleby Collegiate) tallied goals, while senior goaltender Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) stopped 19 shots, as the RIT women's hockey team (1-0-0) opened the 2014-15 season by defeating Union College (0-1-0) 2-1 in front of 1,021 fans in the first regular season contest at the Gene Polisseni Center, RIT's brand new on campus arena Friday evening.

With the game tied at 1-1 midway through the third period, Stenason took a feed from classmate Mackenzie Stone (Kars, Ontario/South Carleton) in the neutral zone, cruised into the Union zone and from just outside the left face-off circle, unleashed a wicked slapshot that went off the crossbar and in over the shoulder of Union goaltender Shenae Lundberg to give RIT a 2-1 edge. Freshman defenseman Christa Vuglar (Crystal Lake, IL/Chicago Mission) also assisted on the goal for her first collegiate point in her first game.

RIT, who did a tremendous job killing off 1:37 of a Union 5-on-3 power-play early in the third period, had 1:22 of a 5-on-3 power-play of its own later in the period. Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) deflected a shot past Lundberg, but it rang off the post and RIT was unable to score on the advantage.

With just 15 seconds left in regulation, Jessica Kamisky went around a Tiger defenseman at the blueline and had a tremendous chance to tie the game, but Binnington made her 19th save of the night the biggest, smothering the point blank shot and preserving the win, her 38th at RIT.

The Tigers came out roaring from the opening faceoff and never let up, out-shooting Union, 42-20, including 23-6 in the opening period. RIT was 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while Union was 0-for-4.

"We skated as well as we could in the first period, but couldn't score," said RIT head coach Scott McDonald, now in his ninth season. "With the game tied in the third period, we owed it to our fans and to the school to get the win. We competed and played hard for each other tonight and it paid off."

Lundberg was tremendous for Union, stopping 40-of-42 shots to be named the game's third star. Jamie Smith scored Union's lone goal with 33 seconds left in the second period.

RIT fired 11 shots on goal over the first six minutes en route a 23-6 edge in the first period. The Tigers threw everything but the kitchen sink at Lundberg, but she was solid, making several big saves to keep the game scoreless. Late in the period, Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) looked to have a wide open net at the doorstep, but could not get the puck to settle down.

Binnington made a huge save early in the second period on Nicole Russell, who deked a pair of Tigers before trying to go high on the RIT netminder, but she held her ground.

Grigg opened the scoring 4:45 into the second on the power-play, completing a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play from Mackenzie Stone (Kars, Ontario/South Carleton) and Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State). Northcote corralled the puck at the point and fed a pass to Stone on the right side of the goal. Stone fired a perfect cross-ice pass to Grigg, who was all alone at the left side of the net for an easy tap in.

In the final minute of the period, Union was able to tie the game, as Smith poked home a rebound off a shot from Christine Valent in front. Kaminsky forced a turnover behind the RIT net and sent a pass out front to Valent. Valent's shot was stopped by Binnington, but Smith was there to stuff the puck past the RIT goaltender and quiet the loud RIT crowd just 33 seconds before the end of the second period.

Both goaltenders and penalty killing units shined in the third period, as each team had an extended 5-on-3 power-play. Binnington made a huge lunging save on Kathryn Tomaselli on Union's 5-on-3, while RIT hit two posts on its two-man advantage later in the stanza.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 8-3-1. The two teams were rivals in the ECAC East conference in the early 2000's. Since moving to Division I, RIT is 1-1-1 against Union.

On Monday, RIT opened the Gene Polisseni Center with a 3-2 loss to Pursuit of Excellence, a junior team from British Columbia.

"Our effort and poise was much better tonight than on Monday," said McDonald.

After the game, RIT celebrated its 2013-14 College Hockey America Championship with a ring ceremony at the Student Alumni Union's Fireside Lounge.

Vuglar, Darcy Henderson (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas), Lauren Carroll (Carlisle, Ontario/Oakville Hornets), and Victoria Pitawanakwat (Manitowaning, Ontario/Sudbury Wolves) played in their first collegiate contests. Northcote, a junior transfer from Minnesota State University, also made her RIT debut.

The Tigers and Dutchwomen complete the weekend series from the Polisseni Center on Saturday, starting at 3 p.m.