ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women’s hockey team (7-24-1, 3-14-1 CHA) dropped its final home game of the 2015-16 season, 2-0 to College Hockey America rival Mercyhurst (16-10-4, 13-3-2 CHA) on Saturday afternoon from the Gene Polisseni Center. Today, RIT honored seniors Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State), Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic), Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers), and Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit), who played in their final home game at the university.
Despite the loss, Rackleff was tremendous in goal for the Tigers, stopping 38 of 40 Lakers shots to be named the game’s first star.
Brooke Hartwick and Emily Janiga scored for Mercyhurst. In net, Sarah McDonnell made 11 saves for the shutout win.
Mercyhurst out-shot RIT, 40-11 in the contest. The 11 shots on goal were the fewest for RIT in a game at the Division I level. Mercyhurst was 0-for-5 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-2.
“I thought our seniors played really well in their final home game today,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “Jetta (Rackleff) was incredible for us, keeping the game close, while Jess (Paton) and Carly (Payerl) were able to generate a lot of good chances. I thought Haley (Northcote) played one of her best games of the season, jumping into the offense.”
Rackleff was the story in the first period, stopping all 17 Mercyhurst shots to keep the game scoreless.
RIT came out firing with a handful of good chances right off the bat, with its best chance coming on a wrap around attempt from Victoria Pitawanakwat (Manitowaning, Ontario/Sudbury Wolves) that was stopped by McDonnell.
Rackleff had come up with two big saves on a rush six minutes, as she denied Smith from the slot and then Janiga on the rebound in tight. Later in the period, Rackleff made another incredible save on Janiga on a partial breakaway attempt.
Mercyhurst would get on the board early in the second period, as Hartwick would take a feed from Sarah Robello in the slot and fire a high, hard wrist shot over the blocker of Rackleff just under the cross bar and in for her sixth goal of the season.
RIT would get a few good chances later in the period. RIT’s best chance came six minutes into the period, as Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) fired a low shot that McDonnell stopped with her left pad from the slot. The rebound came right to Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep), who tried to stuff it home, but McDonnell got the pad across to make the big save.
Rackleff continued her strong play with a handful of big stops, including one from Smith from point blank range.
The Tigers came out and generated chances early in the third period, but wound up taking a pair of penalties that halted their momentum.
Janiga would complete a great individual effort with 3:50 left, taking a feed from Lauren Kilroy in her own zone, going coast-to-coast through three RIT defenders before calmly slipping a backhand past Rackleff for her ninth goal of the season for the big insurance goal.
This was the fourth and final meeting between the two schools, as Mercyhurst took all four meetings. Mercyhurst won home game, 5-0 and 4-3 on Oct. 30-31. Yesterday, four different Lakers scored in a 4-1 win at the Polisseni Center. Paton netted RIT’s lone tally.
The Lakers have a 15-3 all-time record against the Tigers. Two out of the three victories for the Tigers over the Lakers have come in postseason play, both at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
RIT wraps up the regular season next weekend at Robert Morris with a pair of games against the Colonials. Friday’s contest begins at 7:05 p.m., Saturday’s at 3:05 p.m.
