Women's Hockey | 10/18/2016 12:30:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY — The RIT women's hockey team heads to Connecticut to play a two-game series against Yale University this weekend. The games will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21 and 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 at David S. Ingalls Rink.
The Tigers (1-5-0) are coming off their first win of the season on Saturday, a 2-0 victory over Union at the Gene Polisseni Center. Freshman Jade Mancini (Burlington, Ontario/Bishop Tonnos) potted her first goal of her collegiate career, while fellow classmate Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's Catholic) registered her first point, an assist on Mancini's tally. Freshman goalie Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) picked up her first collegiate win and shutout, stopping all 20 shots sent her way. Lanteigne, who was named the College Hockey America Rookie of the Week on Monday, leads the Tigers with a 1.50 goals against average and .946 save percentage in four games.
Sophomore Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) also scored in Saturday's win, on the power-play, registering her first point of the season. Senior Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) found the scoresheet with an assist on Cornine's tally, giving her a team-high three points this season.
Yale will open its regular season against the Tigers this weekend. The Bulldogs have played two preseason contests so far, a 2-2 tie at Brown on Oct. 8 and a 1-0 victory over McGill at home on Oct. 15. The Bulldogs finished with a 10-17-2 record (9-11-2 in ECAC play) in 2015-16 and missed out on the conference postseason tournament for the first time in three seasons, by just one point.
The Bulldogs return five of their top seven scorers, all but one defenseman, and their starting goalie from a season ago. The forwards include seniors Phoebe Staenz and Krista Yip-Chuck, who lead the team with 67 and 59 career points, accordingly. Staenz was tied for second on the team in goals last season with nine, and finished fifth in points with 17. She needs 33 points this year to reach 100 in her career, which only three players in program history have accomplished. Staenz won a bronze medal with Team Switzerland in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Yip-Chuck, Yale's captain, was third on the team in 2015-16 with 20 points, including a career-best 15 assists.
Senior goalie Hanna Mandi was Yale's starting netminder during the 2015-16 season. She started in 27 of the Bulldogs' 29 games last season, recording a 10-15-2 record with a 2.93 goals against average and an .897 save percentage. She made 30 or more saves in a game six times in 2015-16.
RIT is 4-0-0 all-time against Yale, including one win at the Division I level. The last time the two teams met was on Oct. 20, 2012, a 3-0 RIT victory played on Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester.
Live stats and video are available for Friday's contest. Saturday's game will also have live stats and video.
After this weekend, the Tigers will return home for three straight home games. On Oct. 27-28, College Hockey America opponent Penn State comes to town for a Throwback Thursday matchup at Ritter Arena on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. and a Friday 2:05 p.m. faceoff at the Gene Polisseni Center. The Tigers will then play a home-and-home series with nationally-ranked Colgate University, at home on Nov. 4 at 6:05 p.m., and in Hamilton at 3 p.m. on Nov. 5.
