SYRACUSE, NY– The RIT women's hockey team (16-15-3, 11-7-2 CHA) earned a dramatic 2-1 overtime win against CHA rival Syracuse (18-13-3, 9-8-4 CHA) on Saturday afternoon from Tennity Ice Pavilion, to garner the third seed in the conference tournament. Senior Melissa Bromley (Aurora, Ontario/Aurora Panthers) scored the game-winner 2:31 into overtime to give RIT the weekend sweep over the Orange.

The Tigers are the No. 3 seed in the upcoming College Hockey America Tournament, and for the second straight season, will welcome Penn State to Ritter Arena for a best-of-three game series starting Friday. Friday's game will get underway at 7 p.m. from Ritter Arena, Saturday's is slated for a 2 p.m. start and if Sunday's game is necessary, the puck will drop at 2 p.m. as well.

For the second straight game senior Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) got the scoring started for RIT this time with a nifty short-handed goal just 6:25 into the game. Emilee Bullied would earn the assist on Kunichika's goal after she stole it away in the defensive zone. Bulleid fired a clearing attempt along the boards and into the neutral zone, where Kunichika flagged the loose puck down. Kunichika then skated into the Syracuse zone, eluded her defender, faked a back handed shot left and flipped it right into the completely open side of the net for the goal.

It was the second short-handed goal of the season for RIT, both of which have come against Syracuse.
 
With time winding down in the third and the Orange trailing 1-0, Nicole Renault would net a power play goal to draw even with the Tigers and force overtime.
 
In overtime both teams traded shots for the first few minutes, until Maugeri threw a shot from the right corner into the slot, where it made contact with Bromley out in front and deflected past Drinkwater for a game-winning goal. Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) would earn an assist on the game winning goal as well.
 
RIT goaltender Ali Binngington played stellar in net for RIT, making 37 saves in the Tigers win and helping fend off the Syracuse attack on many occasions.
 
For Syracuse, starting goaltender Jenesica Drinkwater was solid as well making 24 saves and coming up big in crucial situations to keep the Orange in the game.
 
Syracuse outshot RIT 38-26. The RIT penalty kill unit was terrific all day despite allowing one goal, as they shut the door on a handful of Orange scoring chances and even created several shorthanded looks of their own.

"That was another big time win for us." said RIT head coach Scott McDonald. "We had our spurts where we let Syracuse back into it a little bit but in the end, we got it done and getting a win against that team, in overtime with the playoffs coming up next week is great for us."
 
It took some time for RIT to find a rhythm early, as they only managed one shot on net through the first five minutes of play. It was a Syracuse power play however, minutes later that seemed to
 
Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) nearly made it a 2-0 lead for RIT late in the period when she crashed toward the net and made contact with a centering pass with the left side of the net wide open but Drinkwater robbed her of a goal with a tremendous save.
 
The Tigers ended the period on power play and despite having a few good looks at a goal, took their 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
 
In the second both teams juggled the offensive pressure and created some great shots in their respective zones.
 
One of the Tigers best chances at adding to their lead came during an Orange power play with about 12 minutes remaining, when Maugeri headed down ice on a short handed chance, but her shot from in close was blocked away and covered by Drinkwater as the goal came off its moorings.
 
Later on Maugeri nearly scored a shorthanded goal again as she stole a Syracuse pass in the neutral zone, raced past two defenders and fired a slap shot just over the crossbar and off the boards.
 
RIT spent much of the third on their heels as three penalties kept Syracuse in their defensive zone for the majority of the period. Eventually the Orange would break through as Renault got a shot off from the light side of the slot, in close that squeezed between Binnington's right side and the post.  
 
That goal seemed to ignite the Orange for the rest of the period as they kept the pressure on offensively for the remainder of the period. The Tigers defense held strong though and with the score tied at 1-1 the teams headed to overtime, where Bromley netted the game winner midway through the period.
 
"The three seniors on this team played terrific on a weekend that focused on them," said McDonald. "Kourtney [Kunichika], Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) and Melissa [Bromley] all played with a lot of heart and contributed in the biggest moments. They are great players and have been an important part of this team."
 
RIT is now 3-5-1 all-time against the Orange and have swept the Orange in a weekend series for the first time in the two schools history. RIT is 3-1-0 against Syracuse this season, also having won by a score of 3-1 last night at Ritter Arena.