ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women’s hockey team (1-1-0) suffered its first loss of the 2015-16 season, 4-2 to visiting Minnesota State University (2-1-1) at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday afternoon. RIT fell behind 3-0 in the first period and despite cutting the lead to 3-2, could not get the tying goal.
Hannah Davidson had a goal and an assist to lead the Mavericks, while Katie Johnson had two helpers. Emily Harris, Elin Johansson, and Jordan McLaughlin also scored for Minnesota State. In goal, Brianna Quade made 33 saves for the victory.
Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) scored a first period power-play goal, while Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) added a second period shorthanded marker for the Tigers. Rushton’s goal was the first of her collegiate career. Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) assisted on both goals, while Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) also drew an assist. In net, Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) made her first collegiate start, stopping 23 of 27 shots.
RIT out-shot Minnesota State, 35-27, but could convert on a long 5-on-3 power-play spanning the end of the second and start of the third period. Overall, RIT was 1-for-7 with the man-advantage, while Minnesota State was 0-for-3.
“Minnesota State came out hard and put us in a deep hole,” said Scott McDonald, Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach at RIT. “I thought we dominated possession-wise in the second period and played the style we wanted to, but lost a little energy in the third. We looked like a young team today.”
The Mavericks came out and scored three times in the first 13 minutes to take control. At the 6:29 mark, Harris fired in a wrist shot over the glove of de Jonge, taking a feed from Lena Duesterhoeft. Just 2:06 later, Davidson slammed home a rebound off the back boards past de Jonge after Anna Keys fired a shot just wide. Johnannson made it 3-0 at the 12:52 mark, firing in a rebound after Davidson’s shot clanged off the right post.
RIT got on the board late in the first period, as Rushton took a cross-crease feed from Cornine on a 5-on-3 power-play and beat Quade for her first collegiate goal.
In the second, RIT had a handful of power-play attempts, but could not get one past Quade. With 5:04 left in the period and RIT shorthanded, Payerl sprung Paton with a perfect feed between two defenders for a breakaway attempt. Paton came in all alone and roofed a shot over the glove of Quade to cut the Mavericks lead to 3-2.
RIT would have 1:42 of a 5-on-3 spanning the end of the second and start of the third period, but could not convert.
The Mavericks would put the game away with 8:11 left, when McLaughlin stole a clearing attempt, walked into the slot and fired a shot past de Jonge to make it 4-2.
Last night, Lindsay Stenason (Oakville, Ontario/Appleby Collegiate) scored with 21.4 seconds left in regulation and Brooke Stoddart (Elmvale, Ontario/Elmvale) made 26 saves as the Tigers opened the season with a 2-1 win over the Mavericks in the first ever meetings between the two teams.
RIT is right back in action on home ice next weekend, as they host Rensselaer at the Gene Polisseni Center. Friday’s game gets underway at 7 p.m., while Saturday’s starts at 3 p.m.
