Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) and Mackenzie Stone (Kars, Ontario/South Carleton) scored goals 4:34 apart late in the third period to help the RIT women’s hockey team (6-5-1, 2-0-1 CHA) rally from a late deficit and defeat Penn State University (2-10-1, 0-5-0 CHA), 2-1 in front of 1,170 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday evening.
The Tigers held a “White Out Ritter Arena” night, with all fans in attendance receiving a white RIT hockey t-shirt. It was the highest home crowd of the young season for RIT.
With the game scoreless headed into the third period, RIT was able to generate a few chances to no avail, while keeping Penn State off the shot sheet for the first eight minutes. A turnover in the RIT zone snapped up by Penn State’s Emily Laurenzi led to a pass in front and a rocket by Taylor Gross over the glove of RIT goaltender Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) with 8:56 left, stunning the crowd and giving the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead.
RIT would tie the game just 3:14 later, as Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) was able to corral a loose puck in the corner and find Melissa Bromley (Aurora, Ontario/Aurora Panthers) in the slot. Bromley, playing in her 100th collegiate game, fired a hard, low shot that Penn State net minder Nicole Paniccia stopped, but Scoyne followed up and buried the rebound in tight for her first goal of the season, knotting the game at 1-1.
Stone would net her third goal of the season with just 1:08 left in regulation, deflecting a point shot from Scoyne in the slot just inside the right post, past a stunned Paniccia to give RIT the lead. Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) also assisted on the goal.
All three of Stone’s goals are game-winning tallies.
RIT out-shot Penn State, 38-23, including 15-5 in the final period. Both teams were 0-for-3 with the man-advantage.
Binnington was brilliant for the Tigers, stopping 22 of 23 shots to improve to 6-3-1 in 2013-14. Binnington now has a five-game unbeaten streak and has lowered her goals against average to 1.97 this season. She made a series of big saves throughout the contest, keeping the game scoreless.
Paniccia was very strong in net for the Nittany Lions, stopping 36 shots in defeat. She made a handful of big saves in the opening period when RIT held a 16-8 edge in shots.
The Tigers move over .500 for the first time this season.
RIT head coach Scott McDonald was relieved his team picked up a big league win.
“We had a good first period, played with a good amount of energy,” said McDonald. “As the game wore on, we looked tired and sluggish. It wasn’t until Penn State scored that we got a little life and started playing the way we could play. The big crowd had a ton of energy and gave us the spark that we needed.”
The Tigers now lead the all-time series between the two schools, 6-0-1. RIT went 5-0-1 last season against the Nittany Lions, including 4-0 at Ritter Arena. The last three meetings between the two schools have been one-goal games.
Tonight’s contest is the first of four between the two league rivals this season.
