ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women’s hockey team (0-5-0) fell to visiting Union College (2-3-0) by a score of 2-0 as part of Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend Friday afternoon from the Gene Polisseni Center.
Katie Laughlin and Abby Ellis scored for Dutchwomen, who have now won two straight games. Ellis also added an assist. In net, Kate Spooner stopped all 16 shots she faced for the shutout.
RIT goaltender Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) made 20 saves, including nine in the third period.
Union out-shot RIT, 22-16. The Dutchwomen were 1-for-3 on the power-play, while RIT was 0-for-2.
“I thought we had good spurts here and there, but overall didn’t play with much intensity,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Coach Scott McDonald. “We have to start finishing, and find our chemistry.”
Neither team scored in a quick first period in which Union held a 5-3 edge in shots. Lanteigne had to make a great save with 10:20 left in the frame, sticking the right pad out to rob Kathryn Davis from the slot to keep the game scoreless.
The Tigers had two power-plays in the period, but could not convert.
RIT had a few great chances to cash in early in the second period, but Spooner turned aside everything to keep the game scoreless. She made two big saves on Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School) in front during a stretch where RIT had sustained pressure.
RIT thought they had scored with just under six minutes left in the period, as a shot by Tori Haywood (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary’s Catholic) glanced off the crossbar and out. Union would take the lead with 5:09 left in the period, as Laughlin was left all alone in front to jam home a rebound for her first collegiate goal. Ellis fired a shot that Lanteigne stopped, with the rebound lying in front. The puck glanced off Emily Erickson and Lanteigne, right to an unmarked Laughlin, who tallied.
Union would make it 2-0 just 39 seconds into the third period, as Ellis fired a shot from the right point that made its way through a maze of bodies past a screened Lanteigne for her first collegiate goal. Caitlyn McLaren and Cheyenne Harris assisted on the goal.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two programs, 9-4-1, including a 4-2-1 record since the Tigers moved from Division III to Division I in 2012.
The two teams are right back in action Saturday from the Gene Polisseni Center at 12:05 p.m.
