ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team played its inaugural contest at the 4,300-seat Gene Polisseni on Monday evening, falling to the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy by a score of 3-2 in front of 1,042 fans.

Despite holding a 42-19 edge in shots, the Tigers had trouble solving Pursuit of Excellence goaltender Jenna de Jonge, who was brilliant, stopping 40 shots.

The trio of Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers), Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic), and Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) combined for six points, each tallying two on the evening. Paton and Payerl had a goal and an assist apiece, while Brown had a pair of assists.

In goal, Brooke Stoddart (Elmvale, Ontario/Elmvale) started for RIT, stopping six shots in just under 30 minutes. Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit) played 28:44, stopping 10-of-11 shots but took the loss in goal.

Amy Potomak led Pursuit of Excellence with a goal and an assist, while Sarah Potomak and Corbin Welsh also scored.

RIT was 1-for-6 on the power-play, while Pursuit of Excellence was 0-for-3.

"Tonight was an embarrassing effort," said RIT head coach Scott McDonald. "We overlooked a team that with a full lineup is very talented and dangerous. Our fans deserve a better effort, especially opening a new building and that effort will be corrected by Friday."

Pursuit of Excellence opened the scoring 5:08 into the contest, when Welsh snuck in a loose puck from the side of the net after Stoddart made the initial save on a stuff in attempt from Emily Power.

The Tigers evened the game at 1-1 at the 12:13 mark, as Paton stuffed home in a rebound off a wild scramble in front on a power-play. The goal was originally waved off but after video review counted, as it was determined that de Jonge did not have control of the puck before Paton put it home. The play started when Payerl whistled a shot from the right face-off dot that de Jonge stopped. Brown took a swipe at the rebound, which was also stopped for Paton picked up the loose puck in tight.

RIT looked to take the lead but de Jonge made three big saves to keep the game tied.

Pursuit of Excellence grabbed the lead with 3:02 left in the opening period, as Sarah Potomak used an incredible individual effort to go through a trio of Tigers, then get Stoddart to over commit before banking a shot from behind the goal line off a RIT defender's skate for the goal.

Payerl had a tremendous chance midway through the second period, skating in all alone on de Jonge, while RIT was shorthanded, but the Pursuit of Excellence goaltender held her ground and made a big pad save to keep it 2-1.

Amy Potomak gave Pursuit of Excellence a 3-1 lead with just 22.6 seconds left in the second period, as she intercepted a Tigers clearing attempt, whipped around and fired a low shot between the legs of Rackleff.

The Tigers had 33 seconds of a 5-on-3 power-play midway through the third period, but could not convert.

With just 21 seconds left in regulation, the Tigers cut the lead to 3-2, as Payerl was able to jam home a loose puck off a wild scramble in front. Paton and Brown crashed the net after a save by de Jonge and with eight players trying to grab the loose puck in front, Payerl pushed it in for the goal.

The Tigers open the regular season with a pair of home contests against Union this weekend. The season opener is Friday at 7 p.m. and the weekend series wraps up on Saturday at 3 p.m.