Women's Hockey | 1/12/2016 4:16:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team returns home to face College Hockey America rival Penn State University for a pair of games this weekend from the Gene Polisseni Center. Friday's contest begins at 7:05 p.m., while Saturday's game gets underway at 3:05 p.m.
This weekend, all children under 12 years of age will receive free admission. Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for RIT staff, faculty, and alumni, and $3 for youth. RIT students receive free admission (one ticket limit per valid RIT ID). Tickets are available at the Gene Polisseni Center and Gordon Field House Box Offices, by calling (585) 475-4121 or by visiting
www.rithockey.com.
The Tigers play their final 12 regular season games against College Hockey America foes. Last weekend, the Tigers closed out non-conference play by dropping a pair of games at Providence, falling 5-1 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday.
Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) scored both goals for RIT over the weekend, both assisted by
Reagan Rust (Southaven, MS/Moon Area). In goal,
Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit) stopped 77 of 85 shots, including a career-high 43 on Friday. Cornine was named the CHA Rookie of the Week on Monday for the third time in 2015-16.
Rust leads the team in scoring with 12 points on four goals and eight assists.
Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) has a team-best six goals and 11 points, while
Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic),
Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers), and
Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School) have 10 points apiece. In goal, Rackleff has started the last four games and has a 2.82 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.
Penn State enters the weekend with a 5-13-4 mark, including a 1-3-4 record in CHA play. The Nittany Lions enter the weekend fresh off a 3-2 win at Ohio State on Jan. 3 that snapped a seven-game winless streak. Laura Bowman leads the Nittany Lions in scoring with nine goals and 13 points this season. Amy Petersen has a team-best nine assists and is right behind Bowman with 12 points. Its opponents have out-scored Penn State, 51-38 this season. In goal, Celine Whitlinger is 3-7-4 with a 1.62 goals against average and a .944 save percentage this season. Hannah Ehresmann is 2-6-0 with a 3.03 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
RIT is 11-3-2 all-time against the Nittany Lions, including a 9-1-0 record in Rochester. Penn State won the regular season series between the two schools, 3-1-0 last season, out-scoring RIT, 8-7. In the first two seasons of CHA play, RIT was 10-0-2 against the Nittany Lions, winning playoff series in 2013 and 2014.
RIT and Penn State will meet four times over a span of three weekends. The Tigers head to Penn State on Jan. 29-30 for a two-game series.
Both games will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports in Rochester with Gene Battaglia and Chuck Hinkel on the call. In addition, both contests will be
aired online, over the airwaves on
WITR 89.7 FM and
live stats are available.
Come out and support the Tigers in their bid for a third straight College Hockey America championship.
