ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT women's hockey team hosts Mercyhurst for a pair of Atlantic Hockey America contests this weekend. Friday's game starts at 6:00 p.m., while Saturday's game faces off at 3:00 p.m.

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Weekend Recap (RIT vs Syracuse)
RIT split a pair of Atlantic Hockey America games against Syracuse, last weekend. The Tigers won 2-1 on Friday followed by a 3-2 loss at Syracuse, Saturday.
 
First year forward Brac Kelley tied the game at 1-1 on her power play goal 1:34 into the second period of Friday's game. Graduate student forward Mia Tsilemos tallied the game-winner at 4:02 of the second to lead the Tigers to a 2-1 win. Senior goalie Sarah Coe made 26 saves in net to earn the win.
 
Sophomore defensewoman Emma Pickering and senior defenser Kyla Bear each scored in the Tigers 3-2 loss at Syracuse. Pickering tallied a power play goal 5:37 into the third period to cut the Syracuse lead to 3-1, and Bear cut the deficit to 3-2 on her goal at 9:50 of period. Coe finished with 26 saves. 
 
Where They Stand (AHA)
RIT is tied with Syracuse for third in the AHA standings with 20 points apiece. The top two teams in the standings at the end of the regular season receive a first-round bye in the Atlantic Hockey America Tournament. The third seed will host the sixth seed in a first-round game, while the fourth seed will host the fifth seed in the other first-round game.
 
Inside the Numbers
RIT is 9-2-2 when allowing less than three goals this season. The Tigers are 3-0 when scoring five or more goals, 6-1-0 when scoring four goals and 7-1-1 when tallying the first goal.
 
The Last Six Games…
RIT is averaging 2.0 goals per game in the last six games, while allowing 2.5 goals per contest. The Tigers are 5-of-16 (31.3%) on the power play in their last six contests, while going 14-of-16 killing off penalties and won 52.6% of their face offs.
 
Sophomore forward Addie Alvarez has five points on five assists in the last six games, while Kelley (2g, 2a) and senior forward Bronwyn Khangsar (1g, 3a) each have four points.   
 
Among the All-Time Netminders
Senior goalie Sarah Coe enters the weekend second all-time in career saves (2,525), minutes played (4,725) and games played (84). Junior goalie Sophia Bellina is eighth all-time with a .928 save percentage and saves (914) and 11h in games played (38), minutes played (1,910) and a career 2.23 goals-against average.
 
Top 100 Scorers
Four Tigers are ranked in the top 100 in all-time scoring. Senior forward Kylie Aquaro is tied for 28th all-time in scoring with 73 points (23g, 50a). Alvarez is tied for 58th with 47 points (14g, 33a) and Kyla Bear is tied for 61st with 46 points (9g, 37a). Senior forward Athena Vasdani is tied for 72nd with 40 points (16g, 24a).
 
Career Milestones
Senior defensewoman Bailey Kehl is three blocks shy of 170 for her career and Vasdani if four goals shy of 20 and six assists shy of 30. Kyla Bear (7g, 36a) three assists shy of 40, while Alvarez is three points shy of 50 and two assists shy of 35. Aquaro is two goals shy of 25 and 50th career assist last weekend against Syracuse. Tsilemos is four blocks shy of 270 for her career.
 
Century Mark
Ten Tigers have surpassed the 100 games-played plateau. Tsilemos (141) and graduate student forward Nicole Ness (136), senior forward Megan McCormick (128), Vasdani (127), Kyla Bear (125), senior defensewoman Jessie Burks (123), Kehl (122), Aquaro (121), senior defensewoman Addie Carr (103) and senior forward Jordyn Bear (103).
 
About RIT
RIT enters the weekend averaging 2.7 goals per game while allowing 2.5 goals per contest. The Tigers are 27-for-95 (28.4 %) on the power play and 73-for-88 (82.9%) killing off penalties. RIT is winning 49.3% of its face offs and have blocked 420 shots.
 
Seven Tigers have at tallied at least 10 points through 28 games led by Alvarez with 27 points, including a team-high 21 assists. Aquaro is second with 24 points (8g, 16a) and Kelley is third with 18 points (9g, 9a).
 
Pickering is fourth with 17 points, including a team-best 10 goals and seven power-play tallies. Kyla Bear (3g, 13a) is fifth with 16 points. First year forward Kailey Favro is sixth with 14 points (7g, 7a) and Khangsar is seventh with 10 points (4g, 6a).
 
Tsilemos leads the team with 56 blocked shots, Pickering is second with 50 and Bear is third with 47.
 
Coe is 8-8-1 with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage, while Bellina is 4-3-2 with a 2.41 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
 
AHA Rankings
RIT leads Atlantic Hockey America in power play percentage (28.4%) and is second in penalty killing percentage (83.0%). The Tigers are third in goals per game (2.68), points per game (6.82), assists (110), goals allowed per game (2.54), assists per game (4.14) and blocked shots per game (15.00).
 
Alvarez is tied for second in Atlantic Hockey America in points (27) and second in points per game (1.00), assists (21) and assists per game (0.78). Aquaro is sixth in the league in points (24) and tied for fourth in power play goals (4). She is sixth in the league in points per game (0.86), assists (16) and assists per game (0.57).
 
Pickering is tied for fifth in the league in goals (10), leads the conference with seven power play tallies and is tied for seventh with 50 blocks. Kyla Bear is ninth in the AHA in assists (13) and 11th in blocked shots (47). Kelley is tied for eighth in goals (9), eighth in face-off wins (206) and sixth winning 56.0% of her face offs.
 
Jordyn Bear is seventh in the league with 207 face-off wins, while Tsilemos is fifth with 56 blocked shots. McCormick is 11th winning 49.3 percent of her face offs.
 
Bellina is fourth in Atlantic Hockey America with a 2.41 goals-against average and seventh with a .914 save percentage. Coe is fifth in the league with a 2.44 GAA and sixth with a .916 save percentage.
 
National Rankings
RIT is tied for third in Division I with 27 power play goals and sixth converting 28.4 percent of its power play chances. The Tigers are 11th in goals (75), 14th in scoring offense (2.68), 15th in assists (116) and 16th in team saves (717). Alvarez is tied for 13th nationally averaging 0.78 assists per game. Pickering is second with seven power play goals and Aquaro is tied for 20th (4).
 
About Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst enters this weekend second in the Atlantic Hockey America standings with 30 points. The Lakers are 15-12-1 overall after a sweep over Robert Morris last weekend, winning 7-0 on Friday and 6-0 the following day.
 
Junior forward Jade Maisonneuve scored two goals and first year forward Julia Schalin and junior forward Thea Johansson each had two assists in Friday's win. First year goalie Magdalena Luggin made 21 saves to earn the win in net. Senior forward Vanessa Upson scored three goals, junior defender Megan McKay handed out three assists and graduate student goalie Jorden Mattison made 20 saves in Saturday's victory.
 
Mercyhurst enters the weekend second in Atlantic Hockey America averaging 2.89 goals per game and second allowing 1.86 goals per contest. The Lakers are second in the league converting 21.2 percent of their power-play chances and third killing off 81.3 percent of their opponent's power plays.
 
Upson leads Mercyhurst and is tied for second in Atlantic Hockey America with 27 points. She is fifth in the league with 18 assists and third in the league with 340 face-off wins. Schalin and sophomore forward Sofia Nuutinen are tied for second on the team with 22 points and are tied for fifth in the league with 10 goals. Nuutinen and Upson are tied for fourth in the conference with four power play goals. Johansson is fourth on the team with 21 points (9g, 12a).
 
Mattison is second in the AHA with a 1.74 goals-against average, third with a .932 save percentage and sixth averaging 23.29 saves per game.
 
RIT vs. Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst is 44-8-1 all-time against RIT. The Tigers split a pair of games at Mercyhurst on Nov. 22-23. The Lakers won 2-1 in game one, while the Tigers came back to win 4-3 the following day. Emma Pickering scored two third-period goals, including the game-winner. Sophia Bellina made 42 saves in went and RIT went 4-for-6 on the power play.
 
Ranked Opponents
RIT plays four teams ranked in this week's USCHO Division I Women's Poll. The Tigers are 1-4-1 splitting a pair of games against No. 6 Colgate (Oct. 11-12) and went 0-1-1 versus No. 11 St. Lawrence (Oct. 25-26). The Tigers lost 5-2 at No. 7 Cornell (Nov. 26) and 5-1 (Dec. 31). RIT dropped a pair of games at No. 8 Penn State (Jan. 10-11) but host the Nittany Lions on Feb. 14-15 to close out the regular season.