SCHENECTADY, NY – First-year forward Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) scored her first collegiate goal 1:36 into the third period to break a 1-1 tie and classmate Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) earned her first collegiate win in net, as the RIT women's hockey team scored three unanswered goals to defeat host Union College (0-4-2), 3-1 at Mezza Rink on Friday afternoon.

With RIT trailing 1-0 late in the second period, Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) tied the game with 4:18 left, with assists going to Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) and Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School). Cornine would take a feed from Brinna Dochniak (Marine on St. Croix, MN/Stillwater) just 1:36 into the third period and give RIT a lead they would not relinquish. Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic) also assisted on the tally. The duo of seniors Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) and Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) would put the game away with an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left. Thurston was also assist on the goal, Payerl's second of the year.

De Jonge settled down nicely after allowing an early goal to make 20 saves on 21 shots for her first collegiate victory. Thurston tied a career-high with a pair of assists.

"This was a good team win," said Scott McDonald, the Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach at RIT. "I thought we responded very well after Union scored early. We continued to play our type of hockey and found a way to win it at the end."

Jessica Kaminsky scored Union's lone goal just 3:49 into the contest off a feed from Erica Kelly to provide the offense. Melissa Black stopped 28 of 30 shots in defeat.

RIT out-shot Union, 31-21, holding the edge in all three periods. The Tigers were scoreless in their lone power-play attempt, while holding Union off the scoreboard on all four of its power-play chances.

RIT leads the all-time series against Union, 8-3-1. The Tigers are 3-1-1 against Union since moving to Division I in 2012. The two teams were rivals in the ECAC East conference as Division III members in the early 2000's. The Tigers won both meetings between the two schools last season, 2-1 and 2-0. They were the first two games at the Gene Polisseni Center.

The two teams complete their regular season series on Saturday from Mezza Rink at 3 p.m.