PROVIDENCE, RI – The RIT women’s hockey team (4-17-1) fell on the road to Providence College (8-13-0) by a score of 3-1 at Schneider Arena on Saturday afternoon. It was RIT’s final non-conference regular season game of the season.
Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) scored RIT’s lone goal, on an assist from Reagan Rust (Southaven, MS/Moon Area) just 14 seconds into the second period giving RIT a 1-0 lead. Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit) took the loss in net for RIT, making 34 saves. It was Cornine’s second straight game with a goal, with Rust assisting on both tallies.
The Friars scored once in the second period, and twice in the third to pick up the victory, firing 37 shots on goal. Overall, Providence out-shot RIT, 37-22 Brooke Boquist, Lexi Romanchuk, and Christina Putigna scored for Providence. In net, Madison Myers made 21 saves for her seventh win of the season.
Providence was 1-for-5 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-8.
“It was a disappointing end to the weekend,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “I thought we played better today at times but we didn’t have enough urgency during critical parts of the game. We had our share of chances, especially in the third period, but were unable to capitalize and that was the difference.”
Rackleff was solid in the opening period, stopping 20 shots, keeping the Friars off the board. Myers made five saves for Providence in a scoreless first period, as the Friars held a dominating 20-5 edge in shots.
RIT took the lead early in the second period when Cornine tallied her second of the weekend and fourth of the season off an assist from Rust just 14 seconds into the second period. The Friars tied the score at 1-1 late in the period on Boquist’s 10th of the season off an assist from Kendra Goodrichwith 1:20 to play.
Romanchuck and Putigna teach scored in the third period. Romanchuck gave the Friars its first lead of the game with her power-play goal at 5:29 of the third on assists from Cassidy Carels and Blair Parent. Putigna tallied an unassisted goal 16:04 to put the game away for the Friars.
Today marked just the second meeting between the two schools as Division I members. Providence leads the all-time series, 18-1-0. Before today, the two teams last played on Feb. 4, 1995 at Ritter Arena. The Tigers lone win against Providence came on Jan. 22, 1989, a 4-2 victory at Schneider. The teams were once members of the ECAC in the late 1980s. Yesterday, Providence defeated RIT, 5-1, as Rackleff made 43 saves and Cornine scored the goal.
The Tigers went 4-10-0 in non-conference play this season.
RIT plays its final 12 regular season games against College Hockey America foes., beginning Friday, Jan. 15 when they host Penn State University of 7 p.m. at the Gene Polisseni Center.
