Women's Hockey | 2/24/2015 12:56:00 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – The sixth-seeded RIT women's hockey team begins its defense of the College Hockey America Championship, heading to No. 3 Robert Morris for a best-of-three first round series this weekend. Game one Friday will begin at 7 p.m., while game two on Saturday starts at 3 p.m. If necessary, game three will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets for each game are $10 for adults and $5 for students, youth, and seniors. Tickets can be
purchased online or at the Robert Morris box office the day of each game.
The Tigers (11-18-5, 5-12-3 CHA) wrapped up the regular season by splitting a weekend series against Syracuse. On Friday,
Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) scored RIT's lone goal in a 4-1 loss. On Saturday, RIT celebrated senior day with a 1-0 win over the Orange.
Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) scored a power-play goal midway through the third period, while
Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) made 26 saves for her fourth shutout of the season and 18th of her collegiate career, tying Melissa Norris '01 for the most all-time at RIT.
Brown leads the Tigers in scoring with 10 goals and 16 points.
Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) and Grigg are right behind with 15 points apiece. Grigg has a team-high 10 assists. Eight Tigers have at least 10 points this season. In goal, Binnington is 8-10-3 with a 1.90 goals against average and .931 save percentage.
Robert Morris comes into the weekend with an 11-17-5 overall record and finished 8-8-4 in league play, riding a four-game unbeaten streak. The Colonials closed out the regular season by earning a weekend sweep at Penn State by identical 4-1 scores. Mackenzie Johnston leads the team in scoring with 21 points on 11 goals and 10 assists, while Mikaela Lowater has a team-high 15 assists. The Colonials are being outscored, 87-67 this season. In net, Jessica Dodds is 9-14-4 with a 2.54 goals against average and .918 save percentage.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 7-6-3 and is 1-1-2 against Robert Morris this season. The two teams split a weekend series at RIT on Jan. 9-10, with RMU winning 2-0 on Jan. 9 and RIT pulling out a 3-2 win the next day. RIT and Robert Morris met at Robert Morris just recently, on Feb. 13-14, with both games ending in identical 2-2 ties.
The two teams have met once in the postseason, with RIT recording a 4-1 last season in the CHA Semifinals at Mercyhurst en route to winning the league title in just its second season as a Division I program.
RIT is 20-12 all-time in postseason contests at the Division I and III levels, since women's hockey was recognized as a NCAA Championship sport in 2001. Since
Scott McDonald took over as head coach in 2006, RIT is 17-7 in the postseason, including a 6-1 mark at the Division I level. The senior class of
Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres), McCrea,
Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning),
Emilee Bulleid (Waterdown, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres), Grigg, Brown, and Binnington has an impeccable 11-1 record in postseason play.
It is the first time RIT is travelling for a CHA first round series. The Tigers swept Penn State in the first round from Ritter Arena in both 2013 and 2014.
Mercyhurst and Syracuse are the top two seeds in the CHA Tournament and received a first round bye. Mercyhurst will host the semifinals and championship on March 6-7. No. 4 seed Penn State will host No. 5 Lindenwood in the second best-of-three first round series this weekend. If RIT were to advance, they would play top-seed Mercyhurst in one semifinal on March 6.
Video (fee based) and
live stats will be available for each game this weekend.
Head out to Robert Morris and support your Tigers as they look to defend their CHA Championship.
