Women's Hockey | 9/18/2021 1:00:00 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT women's hockey team opens the 2021-22 season with a non-conference game at Mercyhurst, Sunday. The Tigers return following a pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign that ended with a 1-15 record for first-year head coach
Celeste Brown, who took the reins of her alma mater two summers ago.
FOLLOW LIVE
All home games and College Hockey America road contests this season will be
streamed on Stretch Internet. Links to live webcasts and
statistics for all games can be found at RITathletics.com while in-game updates can be found on Twitter by following @RITWHKY.
JORDAN RULES
RIT returns one player with 100-plus games experience (112) in team captain
Jordan Marchese (Mississauga, ON/Brampton Canadettes), who is also the lone returnee with double-digit career numbers with 10 goals, 15 assists and 25 points.
FRESH FACES
The Tigers have 13 new players on this year's roster, including 12 freshmen and one transfer. RIT's 12 first-years are the most of any CHA team for 2021-22 and are more than doubles three of the four other teams in the league. Two sets of twins - Annie and
Jessie Burks (Sun Valley, ID) along with Jordyn and
Kyla Bear (Ochapowace, SK) also joined the program this season.
SAVE THE DAY
Junior goaltender
Taylor Liotta (Mississauga, ON/Oakville Hornets) returns after finishing fifth in the CHA last season with a .926 save percentage.
COMPLETE THE SET
RIT's 2021-22 schedule includes teams from every NCAA Division I conference (CHA, ECAC, Hockey East, WCHA, NEWHA, and WCHA).
LAST TIME OUT
RIT finished the 2020-21 campaign with a 4-0 loss to Robert Morris in the opening round of the College Hockey America Tournament, hosted by Mercyhurst last March.
ABOUT THE LAKERS
Mercyhurst's 202-21 season ended with a 3-2 loss to Robert Morris University in the College Hockey America Tournament semifinals. Mercyhurst was picked third in the annual CHA preseason poll with freshman Vanessa Upson voted Preseason Co-Rookie of the Year. Four players received votes for the All CHA Team that included graduate students and co-captains Alexa Vasko and K.K. Thiessen, sophomore Sara Boucher and junior goaltender Ena Nystrom. The Lakers roster includes eight incoming freshmen, seven sophomores, five juniors and seniors and three graduate students.
RIT VS. MERCYHURST- LAST SEASON
RIT finished 1-3 against Mercyhurst in 2020-21 in four conference games. The Tigers emerged with a 1-0 victory on Jan. 6 after
Hana Solinger (Chatsworth, ON/Cambridge Rivulettes) scored the eventual game-winning goal in the final minute of the second period to back
Taylor Liotta's (Mississauga, ON/Oakville Hornets) 42-save performance which included 21 saves in the opening period. RIT dropped a 5-1 road game on Dec. 11 and a pair of home games, the first by a 2-1 score on Dec. 10 and the other by a 4-0 final on Jan. 7.
RIT VS. MERCYHURST - HISTORY
The Lakers hold a 32-6 edge dating back to 2012. Last season's 1-0 win at Mercyhurst on Jan. 6 was the smallest margin of victory for RIT over the Lakers. RIT is 2-16 at home and 4-16 on the road all-time with a 4-32 conference record.
