Women's Hockey | 3/8/2015 2:08:00 PM
Click here for complete NCAA bracket --- Click here for RIT Game Notes --- Click here for Minnesota Game Notes
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division I National Tournament and travel to top-seed University of Minnesota for a quarterfinal round game at Ridder Arena on Saturday, March 14 at 5 p.m. EST/4 p.m. CST.
Tickets are $10.00 for chairback seating and $5.00 for bench seating. For any general ticket information, contact the University of Minnesota Ticket Office at: 1-800-U-GOPHER or visit
www.mygophersports.com. There is also
live video,
live stats, and
audio available for the contest.
"These are all great teams remaining (in the tournament)," said RIT head coach
Scott McDonald. "Minnesota is the No. 1 team in the tournament, having won two of the last three national titles so we will have our work cut out for us. We will have to focus on what we do well, play good defense, block shots, and get great goaltending. We are excited to play in a great atmosphere, with a big crowd, which we are used to and excited for the challenge ahead of us."
On Saturday, junior forward
Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) scored 3:15 into double overtime to lift the sixth-seeded Tigers to its second straight College Hockey America Championship, 2-1 over No. 2 seed Syracuse at Mercyhurst Ice Arena. On Friday, the Tigers knocked off top-seed Mercyhurst, 4-1 in the league semifinal. It was the first time that the CHA Champion received an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Goaltender
Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) was named the CHA Tournament Most Valuable Player for the second straight season. Binnington stopped 44-of-45 shots in Saturday's Championship win, and 70-of-72 shots over the weekend. Binnington is now 11-1 in her postseason career with an incredible 0.90 goals against average and .969 save percentage. Teammates
Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School),
Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets), and
Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) were named to the CHA Postseason All-Tournament Team.
RIT is making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament in just its third season as a DI program. The Tigers won the Division III National Championship in 2012, were the national runner-up in 2011 and quarterfinalists in 2007. RIT is 24-12 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 21-7 in the postseason, including a 10-1 mark at the Division I level, with eight straight victories. The senior class of Scoyne,
Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas),
Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning),
Emilee Bulleid (Waterdown, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres), Grigg,
Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy), and Binnington has an impeccable 15-1 record in postseason play. The group of six skaters have combined to play in 799 career contests.
RIT enters the tournament with a 15-18-5 record, having won five straight games. RIT was ineligible for the 2013 and 2014 NCAA Tournament, serving a two-year probationary period after moving up from Division III.
RIT has a scoring by committee approach, as no player has 20 points, but nine have between 11 and 18. Brown leads the team with 10 goals, but eight have at least five tallies. Grigg leads the team in scoring with 18 points on seven goals and 11 assists. Brown,
Mackenzie Stone (Kars, Ontario/South Carleton), and McCrea are right behind with 16 points apiece. RIT penalty killing unit has successfully killed of 26 shorthanded opportunities over the last five games.
Minnesota (31-3-4) is the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. The Golden Gophers fell in the WCHA Semifinal on Saturday to Bemidji State, 1-0. Minnesota, the 2015 WCHA Regular Season Champion, is making its 13th appearance in the NCAA postseason and has qualified for the tournament for the eighth consecutive year. The Gophers look to make a fourth-straight appearance in the national championship game, winning two (2012 and 2013) of the last three national titles (runners up in 2014). The Golden Gophers are out-scoring their opponents, 171-44 this season. Hannah Brandt leads Minnesota in scoring with 67 points on 31 goals and 36 assists. Dani Cameranesi is right behind with 23 goals and 39 assists for 62 points. In net, Amanda Leveille is 25-3-3 with a 1.16 goals against average, .946 save percentage and six shutouts.
The Gophers secured one of four at-large berths to the national tournament. WCHA champion and No. 4 seed Wisconsin, Hockey East champion Boston University and ECAC champion and No. 3 seed Harvard joined RIT in securing automatic berths, and No. 2 seed Boston College, Clarkson, Quinnipiac and Minnesota were selected to fill the remaining four places.
NCAA Quarterfinal Match-Ups
No. 1 seed Minnesota hosts RIT - 5 p.m. EST, Saturday, March 14
No. 4 seed Wisconsin hosts Boston University, 3 p.m. EST, Saturday, March 14
No. 2 seed Boston College hosts Clarkson, 1 p.m. EST, Saturday, March 14
No. 3 seed Harvard hosts Quinnipiac, 4 p.m. EST, Saturday, March 14
The quarterfinal winners advance to the 2015 NCAA Women's Frozen Four, hosted by the Gophers at Ridder Arena March 20 and 22. Frozen Four tickets are entirely sold out. Fans interested in being put on a waitlist should additional tickets be made available should contact the Gopher Sales & Service Department at 612-624-8080 (option 2).
