MERCYHURST, PA – The No. 9 Mercyhurst women’s hockey team (25-6-1, 16-3-0 CHA) scored three unanswered goals early in the third period to break a scoreless tie and defeat the RIT women’s hockey team (14-14-5, 7-7-5 AHA) 4-1 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday afternoon.
Christine Bestland scored twice, while Emily Janiga also scored in the opening seven minutes of the period, spoiling an otherwise valiant effort by the Tigers. Jenna Dingledein scored an empty-net goal with 1:04 left and dished out a pair of assists. Valia Higson added three assists.
Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) scored RIT’s lone goal on the power-play with 7:54 left in regulation to break the shutout. Hiller was able to slam home a rebound off a scramble in front of the net to get her team-best seventh power-play goal and 13th overall on the season. Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects) took a feed from Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and fired a shot that was stopped, but Hiller was able to bury the rebound.
RIT was 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while Mercyhurst was 1-for-3. The Lakers held a 31-21 edge in shots.
In goal, Stephanie Ciampa made 20 saves for the Lakers to improve to 16-1-0 this season. RIT goaltender Ali Binnington(Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) stopped 27-of-30 shots, falling to 9-8-4 in 2012-13.
Bestland gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead just 55 seconds into the third period, as she took a feed from Dingeldein from behind the net in front and slipped a shot past Binnington for her 25th goal of the season.
Janiga made it 2-0 Lakers just over three minutes later, taking a perfect goal-mouth feed from Higson and sliding a shot past Binnington for her 19th goal of the season. Moments later, on a power-play, Higson rocketed a slap shot from the right side that was tipped by Bestland over the glove of Binnington at the 6:46 mark to make it 3-0 Lakers.
Mercyhurst out-shot RIT 8-3 over the opening period, but the Tigers held their own during a scoreless frame.
Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) had a good chance from the slot foiled in the opening minutes, then Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) had a great chance stopped by Ciampa from point-blank range with 5:50 left in the opening period.
Binnington was called upon to make a couple of good stops over the opening 20 minutes, including one on Bestland from in tight late in the period.
Both teams upped its intensity in the second period, but the two goaltenders and RIT’s right post kept the game scoreless after 40 minutes of play.
Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) had RIT’s best chance of the period crashing the net on a power-play and redirecting a feed the Ciampa was able to cover.
Mercyhurst had a stretch of over a minute in the second period, where they kept RIT hemmed in its own zone, but Binnington kept the puck out of the net. Later in the period, a Mercyhurst player had Binnington out of position with an open net off a rebound, but the puck hopped over her stick and out of harms way.
With 3:53 left in the period, Gina Buquet looked to have Binnington beat on a 2-on-1 break, but her shot from the slot bounced off the right post and out.
Today’s game was the third of four meetings between the two schools this season. The two teams met way back in the season opening games for both teams on Sept. 28-29, with Mercyhurst welcoming RIT into the Division I era with 6-2 and 7-0 wins at Ritter Arena. Bestland tallied seven points on three goals and four assists that weekend, while Janiga had a hat-trick in the 7-0 win.
The two teams wrap up their season series on Saturday at 2 p.m., also from the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
