Women's Hockey | 3/4/2020 4:24:00 PM

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Fifth-seeded RIT takes on fourth-seeded Penn State in the quarterfinals of the College Hockey America (CHA) Tournament at the LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

The Tigers clinched the fifth seed with a 4-3 victory over visiting Lindenwood last Friday while the Nittany Lions shutout visiting Mercyhurst, 2-0, to close the regular season last Saturday.

RIT and Penn State split their four regular-season meetings as the home team swept each doubleheader. The Tigers most recently earned 4-2 and 4-3 victories (Feb. 14-15)  at the Polisseni Center while the Nittany Lions won, 3-0, and 6-2 (Dec. 6-7) in University Park. 

FOLLOW LIVE
Thursday's game can be heard on WITR 89.7 FM or online at witr.rit.edu with Andrew Bentkowski and Tommy Kane on the call. Live video and statistics for both this weekend's games will be available at RITathletics.com/sidearmstats/whockey while in-game Twitter updates can be found by following @RITWHKY. 

TRACKING THE TIGERS
RIT closed the regular season with a 4-3 victory over visiting Lindenwood last Friday before tying the Lions, 1-1, on Saturday. Senior defender Taylor Baker (Toronto, Ontario/North Toronto Collegiate Institute) notched a goal and an assist  while freshman forward Jaymee Nolan (Dublin, Ontario/London Devilettes) tallied her team-leading 13th goal in Friday's win. On Saturday, the Lions made up a 3-1 deficit midway through the third period with two goals in a minute span, but Tiger junior forward Stella Haberman (Golden Valley, MN/Minnesota Whitecaps) notched a power-play goal with 7:16 left in regulation that proved to be the difference. 

The following day, Lindenwood got on the board 1:48 into the game before junior forward Jordan Marchese (Mississauga, Ontario/Brampton Canadettes) answered 45 seconds later for the only goals of the game. Senior goalie Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) logged 30 saves, including 13 in the third period, for her ninth-consecutive and 17th game of the season with at least 30 saves.

RIT IN THE CHA TOURNAMENT
RIT owns an 11-6 record in seven appearances in the CHA Tournament. The Tigers are in the hunt for their first title since 2015 when they defeated Syracuse, 2-1 (2OT), in their first season of full Division I membership. RIT also won the 2014 title while reclassifying from Division III and was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament.

RIT VS. PENN STATE IN THE CHA TOURNAMENT
RIT is 4-4 opposite Penn State in the CHA Tournament. The Tigers swept back-to-back, best-of-three series opposite the Nittany Lions to open the 2013 and 2014 tournaments before Penn State returned the favor in 2016. RIT defeated Penn State, 2-1, in the opening round of the 2017 tournament when the format changed to single elimination. The Nittany Lions also opened last year's postseason with a 4-1 win versus the Tigers at the Harborcenter. 

SHOW STOPPER
Senior goalie Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) entered the week ranked 14th nationally with a .929 save percentage and had the second most saves (828) out of anyone in the top-15. She was voted the College Hockey America (CHA) Goaltender of the Week after stopping a career-high 61 shots in the Tigers' 2-2 draw with Syracuse (Feb. 8) a day after making 56 saves in a 3-1 road setback to the Orange. The reigning CHA Player of the Year combined for a .959 save percentage despite facing 122 total shots during the doubleheader. 

SUPER SOPH
Sophomore forward Abby Davies (Ashton, Ontario/Ottawa Lady Senators) sits 14th in the CHA and leads RIT with 22 points, including 12 assists that are also a team-high. Following a freshman campaign that included one goal and three assists while appearing in all 35 of the Tigers' contests, Davies' second season has included a two-goal showing during a 7-4 victory at Syracuse (Nov. 1) as well as a goal and an assist in the 5-2 win over Long Island University (Dec. 15). She entered the postseason tied for ninth in the league with 10 goals. 
RATED ROOKIE
Freshman forward Jaymee Nolan (Dublin, Ontario/London Devilettes) sits seventh in the CHA and first for RIT with 13 goals. She is also the conference's second-highest scoring first-year player, entering the week tied for 18th overall with 19 points. She scored two goals in the Tigers' 7-4 victory at Syracuse (Nov. 1) and again in the 3-0 shutout over visiting Sacred Heart (Jan. 4) before netting two goals in the 2-2 draw with the Orange (Feb. 8). 

SPREAD THE LOVE
Twenty Tigers have notched at least one point this season, including eight that have scored double-digit points. Fifteen players have also scored at least one goal, including two freshmen (Nolan, Goff) and two sophomores (Davies, Barnett) at the top of the list.  

BEST OF THE BEST
Freshman forward Christa Stefanopoulos (Pierrefonds, Quebec/Dawson College) was voted the National Rookie of the Month for December by the Women's Hockey Commissioner's Association. Also tabbed the CHA Rookie of the Month, Stefanopoulos was honored for her efforts in the team's sweep of Long Island University. She scored the Tigers' first goal and had the primary assist on the second to help bring RIT back for a 3-2 overtime win. The following day, she assisted the Tigers' first goal and later helped break open a one-goal game with back-to-back tallies during a three-minute span of the third period en route to a 5-2 win. 

GOFF TO THE RACES
Freshman forward Rachel Goff (Naperville, IL/Chicago Mission) was named College Hockey America Rookie of the Month for October after scoring six points on four goals and two assists in her first eight games wearing a Tiger sweater. She notched her first collegiate goal in a 4-4 tie with visiting Vermont (Oct. 5) and also totaled three goals and two assists during RIT's two-game sweep of visiting Brown (Oct. 25-26).