ROCHESTER, NY – It was a day of firsts for the RIT women’s hockey team (1-5-0) as they earned their first win of the 2016-17 season, defeating Union College (2-5-0), 2-0 in front of 1,082 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center as part of the university’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend.
With several former women’s hockey players looking on, sophomore Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) scored in the second period to give RIT a 1-0 lead, while freshman Jade Mancini (Burlington, Ontario/Bishop Tonnos) scored her first collegiate goal in the third period. First-year goaltender Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) earned her first collegiate victory and shutout, making 20 saves.
Union goaltender Kate Spooner was strong in defeat, with 25 saves.
RIT out-shot Union, 27-20. RIT scored its first power-play goal of the season, going 1-for-5. Union was 0-for-4 on the power-play.
“We really needed the win,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “I thought we played with much more intensity and everyone on the ice was a factor for us today. We did a good job blocking shots and it was nice to see our freshman contribute.”
The Tigers had to kill off a 5-on-3 Union power-play in the opening period, with Lanteigne and the RIT defense doing a fine job of turning everything aside. Emily Erickson looked to have an open net off a shot in front, but Christa Vuglar (Crystal Lake, IL/Chicago Mission) did a great job of blocking the scoring attempt out of play to keep the game scoreless.
RIT would fire a season-high 14 shots on goal in the second period and take command of the contest.
Cornine tallied her first goal of the season 10:23 into the second period, taking a feed from Lindsay Stenason (Oakville, Ontario/Appleby Collegiate) and ripping a hard shot past Spooner for her first goal of the season. It marked RIT’s first goal on home ice in 2016-17. Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) also assisted on the goal, giving her a team-high three points this season.
Mancini scored the important insurance tally for the Tigers with 8:58 left in regulation, jamming home a rebound off a shot by Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) for her first collegiate goal. Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary’s Catholic) earned the second assist, for her first collegiate point.
RIT’s defense, which blocked 18 shots on the afternoon and Lanteigne did the rest to earn the shutout. The first-year goaltender has now allowed just six goals in her first four collegiate contests, as she lowered her goals against average to 1.50 and upped her save percentage to .946.
“Terra has shown that she comes to compete and play well, getting our team into a good groove,” said McDonald.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 10-5-1, including a 5-2-1 mark since moving to Division I in 2012. Yesterday, Union won the opening game of the series, 2-0 behind a 16-save shutout from Spooner.
The Tigers are back in action next weekend, as they head east to take on Yale University of the ECAC. Next Friday’s contest starts at 6 p.m., while the Saturday afternoon tilt begins at 3 p.m.
