Women's Hockey | 10/18/2019 9:54:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT's women's hockey team hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to Erie, Pa., for a pair of games against CHA rival Mercyhurst University.

Puck drop is at 6 p.m. on Friday, with the rematch set for 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The Tigers are looking for their first victory. They played back-to-back weekends to start the 2019-20 season at the Gene Polisseni Center. They lost the season opener 3-1 on Oct. 4 to Vermont but earned a 4-4 tie in Oct. 5 rematch before St. Cloud State University came to town last weekend and posted 4-1 and 3-0 victories.

The two-game set against Mercyhurt (2-1-1) kicks of College Hockey America play for the Tigers. The Lakers won three of four games against RIT a year ago and were picked to win the CHA title in the preseason coaches poll.

Playing the Lakers right away will be a good measuring stick, RIT coach Chad Davis said.

"You want to start at the top," Davis said. "You have to set the pace and see what it is."

A little time on the road together also won't hurt, especially with 13 freshmen on the roster.

"It's been nice to get set up at home but I think it's a good time to change it up," Davis said. "We haven't had an opportunity to travel together, and being on the road gives us a chance to just focus on what we have to do while building some camaraderie."

The Tigers will be looking to find a little more offense. They scored five goals in the two games against Vermont but found the net just once – on the power play – against St. Cloud State.

"St. Cloud had a lot of returning veterans and they played that WCHA style that's pretty physical, and they definitely pushed us," Davis said.

The Tigers penalty killing unit did well against the Huskies, allowing only a five-on-three goal on five opportunities in the series. RIT, meanwhile, went 1-for-6 in the series.

"Five-on-four I felt pretty confident in our penalty killing," Davis said. "If we can get our power play going, we can be pretty dangerous. For us, we know we have to win special teams every night."

Senior goaltender Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen), the CHA Player of the Year in 2018-19, continues to make big saves for the Tigers. She stopped 44 shots on Saturday against St. Cloud, just 20 hours after making 35 saves.

"That's her A-game," Davis said. "She'll give us a really good chance every night."

The key now is to generate more offensive chances, especially with the power play.

"We have to learn how to create some bounces and breaks," Davis said.