Women's Hockey | 11/29/2016 8:30:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY — The RIT women's hockey team will play a home-and-home series against College Hockey America rival Syracuse this weekend. The Tigers and Orange will face off in Syracuse at the Tennity Ice Pavilion at 7 p.m. on Friday, before playing game two at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday at 2:05 p.m.

Saturday's tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for RIT staff, faculty and alumni, $3 for youth, and as always, admission is free for all RIT students (one ticket per valid 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. On Saturday, fans can bring a stuffed animal for a free ticket, or students can bring a stuffed animal for a food voucher.

RIT is coming off a non-conference road trip at ECAC foe Rensselaer last weekend, where the Tigers and Engineers split the two contests. RIT fell 5-1 on Friday, Nov. 25, but earned a 3-1 victory on Saturday, Nov. 26. On Friday, freshman Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's Catholic) scored her first collegiate goal. Saturday, Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) recorded a career-high three points on a goal and two assists. Jade Mancini (Burlington, Ontario/Bishop Tonnos) and Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School) also scored for RIT, while Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) earned her first victory of the season, making 31 saves.

After recording just one goal over the first 10 games of the season, Cornine has emerged as RIT's go to scorer, with three goals and eight points over the last eight games. Cornine, who has two of RIT's three game-winning goals this season, leads the Tigers with 78 shots on goal this season, having fired at least five shots in a game nine times.

Syracuse enters the weekend with a 4-7-3 record, including a 3-2-1 mark in league play. Last weekend, the Orange split a pair of road games against North Dakota, winning 3-0 on Nov. 25, while falling by the same score the next afternoon. Alysha Burris and Jessica Sibley lead the team in scoring with 10 points apiece. Heather Schwartz has a team-best seven goals, while Jessica Sibley leads the team with nine assists. In net, Abbey Miller has played in 13 games with a 4-6-3 record, 1.75 goals against average and a .926 save percentage.

Syracuse won three of the four meetings between the two schools last season. RIT's lone win was a 2-1 overtime thriller at the Gene Polisseni Center on Jan. 22 as part of "Do it for Daron" night. Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) scored both RIT goals, including the game-winner a minute into overtime. Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit) made 41 saves on 42 shots to earn the win for RIT.
 
The Orange leads the all-time series between the two schools, 10-7-1. Twelve of the 18 meetings have either ended in ties or a one-goal difference, with seven going to overtime. RIT defeated Syracuse in double overtime in the 2015 CHA Championship game.

Friday's game will have video and live stats. Saturday's game will also have video and live stats.