ROCHESTER, NY – Senior goaltender Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) made 32 saves for her 15th career shutout, while Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) and Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) scored third period goals to lift the RIT women's hockey team (2-0-0) to a 2-0 win over Union (0-2-0) at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday afternoon.

Binnington was excellent in net, making 11 saves in the first period, nine in the second, and 12 in the final period. She and the RIT penalty-killing unit was tremendous, killing off all eight Union power-play attempts. Binnington stopped 51-of-52 shots over the weekend.

The game was scoreless until the third period, when, 3:27 in, Brown buried a rebound off a shot from Payerl to give RIT the 1-0 lead. With 40 seconds left in regulation, Payerl put the game away with an empty-netter.

"I thought we were sloppy, sluggish, and tired at times, but Ali (Binnington) gave us the chance to win," said RIT head coach Scott McDonald. "I think we were sluggish because of the emotion from last night, but I am very happy to get a weekend sweep and excited for next weekend's games."

On RIT's first goal, Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State) made a pass to Payerl in the neutral zone. Payerl chipped a pass to Brown, who then sent a pass back to Payerl, sending her in on a 2-on-1. Payerl's initial shot was stopped by Union goaltender Shenae Lundberg, but Brown followed up and jammed the rebound home for the game-winning goal.

The Tigers immediately ran into penalty problems, but were able to kill off three Union power-plays in a seven minute span.

"We were really good on the penalty kill all weekend," said McDonald.

With Lundberg off for an extra attacker in the final minute, Christa Vuglar (Crystal Lake, IL/Chicago Mission) sent a pass behind her own net to Emilee Bulleid (Waterdown, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres), who found Payerl in the neutral zone. Payerl got to the red line and calmly fired the puck into the open net to put the game away.

Union out-shot RIT, 32-28. Lundberg made 26 saves in defeat for the Dutchwomen.

RIT did not bring nearly the energy in the opening 20 minutes than they brought last night, although the results were the same, a scoreless draw. Union out-shot RIT 11-8 over the opening 20 minutes after RIT held a 23-6 edge in the first period last night.

Lindsay Stensason had RIT's best chance of the period, ripping a slap shot from the inside the left face-off circle that Lundberg smothered in the crest of her jersey. Binnington was solid for RIT on consecutive Union power-plays, corralling her rebounds on the initial shots.

Both teams had good chances in the second period, as Union dominated the first half of the stanza, while RIT was the aggressor over the second 10 minutes.

Binnington made a great save on Kathryn Tomaselli, as she cut to the middle and beat a RIT defender, before firing a shot that the RIT goaltender pushed aside. A little over eight minutes into the period, Binnington robbed Christine Valente on a point-blank chance in front, going from side to side to keep the puck out.

Freshman Lauren Carroll (Carlisle, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) had a great chance for RIT moments later, as she deflected a shot by Mackenzie Stone (Kars, Ontario/South Carleton) that changed direction, forcing Lundberg to make a big pad save. With 1:09 left in the frame, Victoria Pitawanakwat (Manitowaning, Ontario/Sudbury Wolves) came charging down the left side and fired a hard slap shot from the circle that Lundberg was able to get a pad on and control the rebound.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-3-1. The two teams were rivals in the ECAC East conference in the early 2000s. Since moving to Division I, RIT is 2-1-1 against Union.

Last night, Stenason scored with 10:38 left in regulation to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Tigers to a 2-1 win over the Dutchwomen in the first regular season game played at the Polisseni Center. Lundberg made 40 saves for Union, as RIT held a 42-20 edge in shots.

The Tigers continue their home stand to start the 2014-15 season next weekend against the University of New Hampshire on Friday, Oct. 10 at Northeastern University on Saturday, Oct. 11, both at 3:05 p.m. On Oct. 11, RIT will hold its inaugural One SpiRIT Global Hockey Festival.