ST. CHARLES, MO – Despite a furious third period rally, the RIT women’s hockey team (7-22-1, 3-12-1 CHA) fell to host Lindenwood (7-19-4, 4-8-4 CHA) by a score of 2-1 at the Lindenwood Ice Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers found themselves down 2-0 due to a pair of Shara Jasper goals after two periods of play. In the third period, RIT threw everything at the Lindenwood net, firing 16 shots to just four for the hosts.
Just 1:50 into the final frame, Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) got RIT on the board with a power-play tally, her sixth of the season, with Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) and Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic) drawing assists on the goal.
That goal really energized the Tigers, who continued to generate chance after chance, but could not beat Lindenwood goaltender Nicole Hensley, who made 30 saves overall to earn her sixth win of the season.
Jasper scored a first period even strength goal and a power-play marker late in the second period to provide Lindenwood’s offense, giving her 18 goals on the season. Sarah Bobrowski assisted on both of Jasper’s goals.
RIT goaltender Jetta Rackleff (Bend, OR/Summit) was very good between the pipes, stopping 35 shots in defeat. RIT has scored just seven goals in her eight defeats this season, as she lowered her goals against to 2.21 and raised her save percentage to .936.
Lindenwood out-shot RIT, 37-31, including 15-2 in the opening period. RIT rebounded to hold a 29-22 edge over the final 40 minutes, including a 16-4 tally in the third period. RIT was 1-for-3 with the man-advantage, while Air Force was a 1-for-2.
“It was a tough loss today, but overall I was pleased with our effort over the last two periods,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “We threw everything at them in the third, but couldn’t get that tying goal.”
Yesterday, RIT defeated the Lady Lions, 3-2. Maddie Grisko (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and Brinna Dochniak (Marine on St. Croix, MN/Stillwater) scored their first collegiate goals, while goaltender Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) made 36 saves in the win.
Lindenwood won the regular season series, 2-1-1. The Tigers lead the all-time series between the two schools, 6-5-5 and are 3-3-2 at the Lindenwood Ice Center. The two teams met on Dec. 4-5 at RIT, with Lindenwood earning a 4-1 win the first night and both teams skating to a 1-1 draw the next day.
RIT can finish no better than fifth in the league standings and will travel for the first round of the CHA Tournament on Feb. 26-28.
RIT returns home for its final two home games of the 2015-16 season on Friday and Satutrday, Feb. 12-13 vs. Mercyhurst. Both games get underway at 2 p.m. On Saturday, RIT will honor its Class of 2016.
“We will have to focus on having a better start to the game next weekend,” said McDonald.
