Women's Hockey | 2/26/2018 3:42:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 6 seed RIT women's hockey team will face third-seeded Syracuse University in the first round of the College Hockey America Postseason Tournament on Thursday, starting at 2 p.m. from HARBORCENTER in downtown Buffalo.
 
The 2018 CHA Tournament is a three-day affair, all at HARBORCENTER. The top two teams will receive a first round bye and play the two first round winners on Friday in the CHA Semifinals. The CHA Championship game will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and the champion will receive an automatic berth into the 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Hockey Tournament.
 
Since Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach Scott McDonald took over in 2006, RIT is 22-11 in the postseason, including a 10-4 mark at the Division I level. The Tigers are 7-2 all-time in the CHA First Round. The Tigers are in their sixth season as a Division I program and also as a member of College Hockey America. RIT won back-to-back CHA Championships in 2014 and 2015.
 
RIT (4-27-3, 1-19-0 CHA) was in action last weekend, dropping a pair of home games to Mercyhurst by identical 3-0 scores. Goaltender Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) made 80 saves on 86 shots over the weekend. Captain Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) leads the Tigers in scoring with 15 points on 10 goals and five assists, while assistant captain Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) is right behind with 13 points on four goals and nine assists. de Jonge has played very well as of late, with a .927 save percentage over her last four games. 
 
Syracuse enters the tournament with a 12-20-2 mark, including an 11-8-1 record in CHA play. The Orange dropped their final two regular season games last weekend at home against Robert Morris by scores of 5-0 and 4-0. Alysha Burriss leads the Orange in scoring with 22 points on seven goals and 15 assists, while Brooke Avery has a team-best 11 goals. Lindsay Eastwood leads the Orange with 17 assists. In net, Abbey Miller is 9-17-2 with a 2.42 goals against average and a .909 save percentage.
 
Syracuse leads the all-time series between the two schools, 19-7-2. Syracuse won the previous four regular season meetings earlier this season. It is the fourth postseason meeting between RIT and Syracuse. The Orange knocked off the Tigers, 2-1 in overtime in the 2013 CHA Semifinal. In 2015, Carly Payerl scored a double-overtime goal to lift RIT to its second straight CHA Championship, 2-1 over Syracuse. Last year, the Orange knocked off RIT in the CHA Semifinal.
 
Video and live stats will available for both games.
 
The second first round matchup features No. 4 seed Penn State (9-14-11, 6-7-7 CHA) and fifth-seeded Lindenwood (10-19-1, 8-12-0 CHA) at 5:30 p.m.
 
If RIT wins, they will face top-seeded Robert Morris (20-7-4, 14-3-3 CHA) in the first semifinal at 12:30 p.m. Friday. If Syracuse wins, they will face No. 2 seed Mercyhurst (16-4-4, 13-4-3 CHA) in the second semifinal at 4 p.m.
 
2017-18 CHA Tournament Seedings
1) Robert Morris – Roster – Schedule – Statistics
2) Mercyhurst – Roster – Schedule – Statistics
3) Syracuse – Roster – Schedule – Statistics
4) Penn State – Roster – Schedule – Statistics
5) Lindenwood – Roster – Schedule – Statistics
6) RIT – Roster – Schedule – Statistics