Women's Hockey | 2/27/2019 6:47:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team wraps up the 2018-19 regular season with a pair of road games at College Hockey America rival Mercyhurst University this weekend. The Tigers and Lakers meet at 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday from the Mercyhurst Ice Arena in Erie, Pa.
RIT has 17 points and will finish either fourth or fifth in the CHA standings and will play Penn State in the opening round of the CHA Tournament on Wednesday, March 6 from Harborcenter in Buffalo. Mercyhurst is tied with Syracuse for second in the league standings with 22 points. The top two teams receive a first round bye.
The Tigers (12-15-5, 8-9-1 CHA) enter the weekend looking to get back in the win colum. RIT split a pair of tight games on home ice versus Penn State last weekend, winning 3-0 on Friday, before having its four-game unbeaten streak snapped, 2-1 Saturday. On Friday,
Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary's Catholic),
Ellie Larson (Hutchinson, MN/Hutchinson Tigers) and
Brittney Gout (Caledon, Ontario/Brampton Canadettes) scored for RIT, while goaltender
Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) turned aside all 50 shots she faced for her fourth shutout of the season. Saturday,
Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) scored a first period goal and Lanteigne stopped 36 of 38 shots, as Penn State scored with just 1:12 left in regulation to hand RIT a 2-1 loss.
Cornine leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and 19 points, while
Brittney Gout (Caledon, Ontario/Brampton Canadettes) leads the team with 12 assists and is right behind with 18 points. Larson leads all RIT defensemen with 16 points. Lanteigne, who broke RIT's all-time recorded for saves in a career with 2,304 leads all Division I goaltenders with 1,087 saves and a .945 save percentage. She also has a 1.99 goals against average, while playing in all 32 games. On Monday, Lanteigne was named CHA Goaltender of the Week for the eighth time in 2018-19. She earned NCAA Hockey Second Star of the Week honors for the third time this season on Tuesday.
Mercyhurst enters the weekend with a 13-13-5 overall record and is 10-6-2 in league play. The Lakers split a pair of games at CHA leader Robert Morris last weekend, winning 5-2 on Friday before falling 4-1 Saturday. Emma Nuutinen leads a balanced scoring attack with 27 points on 15 goals and 12 assists. Maggie Knott has a team-best 16 assists and is tied with Summer-Rae Dobson for second with 20 points. Six different Lakers have at least 15 points. Sarah McDonnell is 10-3-1 in net with a 2.25 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.
Mercyhurst leads the all-time series between the two schools, 23-5-0. The two teams split a pair of previous matchups. RIT scored three times to rally and defeat Mercyhurst, 4-2 on Jan. 18. Down 2-1 in the third period, Larson and Rushton scored goals 36 seconds apart to give RIT the lead for good.
Kathryn Kennedy (Hamilton, Ontario/) added an empty-netter in the final minute. Lanteigne made 39 saves in the win, including all 23 shots she faced in the third period.
Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic) also scored for the Tigers. The second meeting was postponed twice due to weather twice, as on Feb. 2, Summer-Rae Dobson scored with 1:17 left in overtime to lift Mercyhurst to a 3-2 win.
Jordan Marchese (Mississauga, Ontario/Brampton Canadettes) and
Hunter Barnett (Caledon, Ontario/Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) scored for RIT and Lanteigne made 40 saves between the pipes.
Both games will be
streamed online by Stretch Internet (paid service). In addition,
live stats will be available for both contests.
