HAMILTON, NY – The RIT women’s hockey team (3-10-0) fell on the road to ECAC rival Colgate (6-2-4) by a score of 3-1. Victoria Pitawanakwat (Manitowaning, Ontario/Sudbury Wolves) scored her first goal of the season in the loss.
Colgate out-shot RIT, 35-33 overall. RIT goaltender Brooke Stoddart (Elmvale, Ontario/Elmvale) stopped 32 shots for the second straight afternoon, but took the loss, while Colgate’s Julia Vandyk also made 32 saves to pick up the win.
Shae Labbe, Jessie Eldridge, and Bailey Larson scored for Colgate. Larson also added an assist to be the lone multiple-point scorer on the day.
Colgate led 1-0 after one period of play, as they got on the board with 4:50 to play, as Labbe tallied her seventh goal of the season.
Pitawanakwat tied the game at 1-1, 5:05 into the second period, putting in her own rebound.Pitawanakwat missed the first 11 games of the season due to injury, tallying in her second game back. Kandice Sheriff (Brampton, Ontario) fired a career-high seven shots on goal for the Tigers.
Colgate would regain the lead for good with 7:24 left in the second, as Eldridge tallied her sixth goal of the season on the rush. Larson would score a shorthanded goal 2:49 into the third period to give the Raiders a two-goal lead.
RIT was 0-for-4 with the man-advantage, while Colgate was 0-for-3.
“Today was a tough loss,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “I thought we did a lot of things well and are showing signs of improvement, but we have to minimize our lapses in concentration during critical times during the game.”
RIT is 14-7-1 all-time against Colgate, 1-5-0 in the Division I era. Yesterday, the Raiders eked out a 3-2 win against RIT at the Gene Polisseni Center. Three different Raiders scored, while Ashlynne Rando made 23 saves. Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) had a goal and an assist, while Stoddart stopped 32 shots.
RIT plays its next seven games at the Gene Polisseni Center, starting with College Hockey America foe Syracuse on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.
