Women's Hockey | 10/3/2019 4:02:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY – The 2019-20 RIT women's hockey team, which returns 14 veterans and adds 13 newcomers, looks to build on the momentum gained last season.
 
"Preseason has been a positive, high-energy environment" said The Bruce B. Bates Head Women's Hockey Coach Chad Davis. "We are looking forward to our program getting stronger every day, and pursuing our goal."
 
Seniors Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic) and Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) and junior Ellie Larson (Hutchinson, MN/Hutchinson Tigers) will lead the Tigers on and off the ice. Land will serve as captain, while Larson and Lanteign will be assistant captains.
 
"We have outstanding leadership with all three," said Davis. "They each bring something different to the table. Logan has the command of the room, while Ellie provides a calm confidence to the bench. Terra has accomplished great things in the classroom and on the ice."
 
Goaltenders
Lanteigne returns for her final season at RIT after a historical 2018-19 campaign. The College Hockey America Player of the Year led all Division I goaltenders with a .944 save percentage. Lanteigne recorded 12 wins and set a RIT single-season record with 1,175 saves while posting a 2.03 goals against average. She enters her final season as the career record holder with 2,392 saves. She is third all-time with 4,254 career minutes and is fourth all-time in games played with 75. Junior Jessi O'Leary (Woodstock, New Brunswick/Notre Dame Hounds) and newcomer Kathryn Liotta will fight for minutes.
 
"All three goalies have been working hard in preparation for the season," said Davis. "Terra sets the tone for the team with her presence in net, and we are looking forward to her leading the group on opening night." 
 
Forwards
Up front, sophomore Hunter Barnett (Caledon, Ontario/Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) is back after an impressive rookie season where she finished fifth on the team in scoring with 11 points. Seniors Jade Mancini (Hamilton, Ontario/Bishop Tonnos) and Madison Farrand (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill) each saw significant time last season, and their experience will help bring along the newcomers.
 
Juniors Stella Haberman (Golden Valley, MN/Minnesota Whitecaps) and Baylee Trani (Huntington Beach, CA/New England Hockey Club) have tremendous speed, and return after solid sophomore campaigns. The Tigers will have nine first-year forwards in Taisiya Rykova (Windham, NH/Northern Cyclones), Reaghan Pietrowski (Curtice, OH/Detroit Honeybaked), Rachel Goff (Naperville, IL/Chicago Mission), Haley Hodge (Brighton, MI/Belle Tire), Hana Solinger (Chatsworth, Ontario/Cambridge Rivulettes), Christa Stefanoloulos, Kylie Lalonde (Arnprior, Ontario/Ottawa Lady Senators), Jaymee Nolan (Dublin, Ontario/London Devilettes) and Emily Stemple (Saginaw, MI/Detroit Honeybaked). They all will push the veterans for playing time.
 
"Our forward group has brought a new energy and dynamic to the team," said Davis. "We have seen their overall skill set and competition levels elevate."
 
Defense
On defense, RIT returns a handful of talented upperclassmen in addition to adding three strong newcomers, including Larson. She finished third on the team in scoring last season with 16 points on six goals and 10 assists. She finished tied for the team lead with three power play goals and led the Tigers with 109 blocked shots. Senior Taylor Baker (Toronto, Ontario/North Toronto Collegiate Institute) returns on defense after an injury cut her 2018-19 season short.
 
Sophomores Madison Itagaki (Glenview, IL/Chicago Mission) and Taylor Sims (Deep River, Ontario/Ottawa Lady Senators) return after strong first seasons in 2018-19. They each played in 24 games, while Itagaki tallied a goal and two assists, and Sims handed out three helpers.

Newcomers Sarah Beck (Linden, MI/Belle Tire), Maddie Dunham (Glenview, IL/Chicago Mission) and Justine Larkin (Ottawa, Ontario/Ottawa Lady Senators) will all push the veterans for playing time this season.
 
"We are looking forward to watching our defense develop over the course of the season," said Davis. "We look for them to set the tone in all three zones." 
 
Schedule
The Tigers will play 34 regular-season games, including 20 contests from the Gene Polisseni Center in addition to one exhibition game.

RIT begins the season on Sunday, Sept. 22, hosting Concordia University in an exhibition. The Tigers open the regular season with four consecutive home games, first with a pair of contests versus the University of Vermont on Oct. 4-5 and two more versus St. Cloud State University the following weekend, Oct. 11-12.
 
RIT opens conference play on Oct. 18-19 with its first road trip of the season at CHA rival Mercyhurst. The Tigers return home to play five of its next six games at the Polisseni Center, starting with two contests versus Brown University of the ECAC on Oct. 25-26. RIT kicks off November with a home-and-home series against defending CHA Champion Syracuse. RIT is home on Nov. 1 and goes to Syracuse the next day. After a week off, RIT hosts Dartmouth College of the ECAC on Nov. 15-16.
 
The Tigers head on the road for four consecutive games, including back-to-back Tuesday night games against ECAC foes Union College on Nov. 19 and perennial contender Colgate University Nov. 26. The Tigers begin December with two games at CHA foe Penn State on Dec. 6-7 before coming home to face Division I newcomer Long Island University-Brooklyn to wrap up the fall semester from the Polisseni Center on Dec. 14-15.

"We are excited for the opportunity to compete against at least one opponent from every conference," said Chad Davis. "The 2019-20 schedule brings a variety of teams to the Polisseni Center and we look forward to defending home ice."

After a three-week break during the holiday season, RIT wraps up non-conference play with two home games against Sacred Heart University to ring in 2020 on Jan. 3-4. From there, RIT plays its final 12 games against conference foes. The Tigers host Robert Morris on Jan. 10-11 then head out to Lindenwood the following weekend, Jan. 17-18. January ends with two home games versus Mercyhurst on Jan. 24-25.
 
The Tigers return to action with a home-and-home series versus Syracuse on Feb. 7-8. RIT will host Penn State on Feb. 14-15 and play its final two road games against Robert Morris the following weekend. The Tigers wrap up the regular season with a pair of home contests versus Lindenwood on Feb. 28-29.
 
"We know every game in CHA play is a big challenge and we look forward to that," said Davis, the 2019 CHA Coach of the Year. "Overall, we like how our schedule is setup and will be ready to go."
 
The 2020 College Hockey America playoffs will take place over a three-day stretch from March 5-7, all at the HARBORCENTER in downtown Buffalo. The third- through sixth-place finishers will face-off in a first-round matchup (3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5) on Thursday, March 5, while the top two teams receive a bye. The CHA Tournament Semifinals will take place on Friday, March 6, and the Championship will be held on Saturday, March 7. The league champion will receive an automatic berth to the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
 
RIT won back-to-back CHA Championships in 2014 and 2015 and appeared in its first NCAA Tournament as a Division I program in 2015. The Tigers won 12 games in 2018-19 and advanced to the first round of the CHA Tournament.

"We want to get better as a team every day," said Davis. "I think we can make some noise in the conference if we stay healthy. We want to establish an identity and play hard. We have to win the special teams battle every night in order to be successful."