Women's Hockey | 2/7/2017 8:00:00 AM
ROCHESTER, NY — The RIT women's hockey team (6-20-2, 4-8-2 College Hockey America) is back on the road after a week off from play, as the Tigers travel to take on No. 8 Robert Morris (17-3-6, 10-2-2 CHA) for a pair of league games on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday Feb. 11. Friday's game starts at 2:05 p.m., while Saturday's gets underway at 1:05 p.m.
The Tigers have six games left, all against CHA foes. RIT is fifth in the league standings with 10 points, just three points out of third.
The Tigers are coming off a pair of shutouts, as RIT defeated Lindenwood, by scores of 5-0 and 1-0, on Jan. 27-28. On Jan. 27,
Kandice Sheriff (Brampton, Ontario),
Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate),
Mackenzie Stone (Kars, Ontario/South Carleton),
Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) and
Madison Farrand (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill) scored, while
Reagan Rust (Southaven, MS/Moon Area) and
Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) dished out three assists apiece. On Jan. 28, Rust scored a power-play goal with 9:41 left in regulation. Sophomore goalie
Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) also recorded her first two shutouts of her career in the victories and was named the CHA Goalie of the Week on Jan. 31. She made 52 saves in the weekend sweep.
The victories marked RIT's first weekend sweep of the 2016-17 season, and first since Oct. 23-24, 2015 at Union. It was also the first weekend sweep of a CHA rival since knocking off Robert Morris in the 2015 CHA First Round series on Feb. 27-28, 2015. RIT has recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time since the 2014-15 season as well. Also in the victories, Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach
Scott McDonald earned his 200th career win at the university, with the 1-0 win on Jan. 28. He is now 200-119-26 in 11 seasons at RIT.
The Tigers are 3-2-1 since the start of the new year. Senior forward
Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) has four multiple-point efforts over the last six games, with eight points on four goals and four assists over that stretch. She has career-high totals of seven goals and 13 points this season.
Eighth-ranked Robert Morris enters the weekend with a 17-3-6 record, including a league-best 10-2-2 mark in CHA play. The Colonials were also off last week, but in their last action they split a pair of games at Syracuse, winning 3-1 on Jan. 27, and falling 5-1 the next day. Brittany Howard leads the team in scoring with 39 points (15 goals and 24 assists), and freshman Jaycee Gebhard is right behind with 34 points (16 goals and 18 assists). Howard is tied for sixth in the country in goals per game (1.5), while Gebhard is tied for 13th (1.31). Gebhard is atop the NCAA in power-play goals, with seven, while also leading all freshman in goals, assists, and points. In net, senior Jessica Dodds has started the majority of the Colonials' games, with a 2.14 goals against average and .920 save percentage in 15 appearances (9-1-5). Sophomore Lauren Bailey has a 2.37 goals against average and .914 save percentage in 10 starts.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 10-9-3. Robert Morris took both games earlier in the season at the Gene Polisseni Center, as the Colonials won 4-3 on Nov. 11 and recorded a 5-1 win the following day.
Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) had three points (one goal and two assists) for RIT in the two games.
Friday and Saturday's game will have
video and
live stats. The Tigers will be back home next weekend, as they have a home-and-home with Syracuse. The Tigers and Orange will play in Rochester Friday, Feb. 17, and then in Syracuse the next day.
