RIT women’s hockey gets out to fast start in exhibition victory over Ryerson

Courtesy of RITAthletics.com

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women’s hockey team opened its 2017-18 season by defeating Ryerson University, 6-5 in an exhibition contest from the Gene Polisseni Center on Sunday afternoon. RIT scored five first period goals in the win.

The Tigers broke open a close game early on, scoring twice in 18 seconds and three times in 1:02 late in the first period to lead 5-1 after the opening 20 minutes.

Stella Haberman (Golden Valley, MN/Minnesota Whitecaps) scored a pair of goals, while Brooke Baker  (Saline, MI/Saline), Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic) and Tori Haywood(Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary’s Catholic) had a goal and an assist apiece. Baylee Trani (Huntington Beach, CA/New England Hockey Club) also scored, while Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard), Ellie Larson (Hutchinson, MN/Hutchinson High School) and Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) had a pair of assists apiece.

All three goaltenders played one period apiece for the Tigers. Jessi O’Leary (Woodstock, New Brunswick/Athol Murray) picked up the win, stopping 11 of 12 shots in the first period. Jenna de Jonge(Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) played the second period, making nine saves, while Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) stopped eight shots over the final 20 minutes of play.

“I liked how we came out, the girls came out flying,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “The first game is always a bit of a roller coaster, but we did a lot of good things.”

Ailish Forfar had a hat-trick and added an assist for the Rams, while Brooklyn Gemmill had two goals and three assists. In net, Rachel Seeley made the start and took the loss, stopping 25 shots.

Shots on goal were knotted at 33-33. RIT was 2-for-11 on the power-play, while Ryerson was 2-for-6. Both teams scored a shorthanded goal.

Haywood opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal just past the halfway mark of the period, as she took a feed from Land on a 2-on-1 inside the Ryerson zone and ripped a perfectly placed wrist shot past Seeley.

 

Ryerson would tie the game on the same RIT penalty, as Forfar jammed home a loose puck off a scramble in front.

RIT’s offense would break the game open moments later. With 5:20 left in the period, Baker ripped a wrist shot from the top of the circle past Seeley to make it 2-1. Just 18 seconds later, Land came into the zone, cut behind the net and attempted a pass out front that deflected off Seeley’s stick and in.

Haberman made it 4-1 Tigers with 4:18 left in the period off a feed from Jordan Marchese(Mississauga, Ontario/Brampton Canadettes) and Trani completed the first period onslaught, batting in a rebound in front off a shot from Cornine.

Forfar scored consecutive goals 27 seconds apart in the second period to complete the hat-trick to cut the RIT lead to 5-3. Haberman would score the eventual game-winning goal with 5:38 left in the second period, slipping home a loose puck at the side of the net to give RIT a 6-3 lead into the final period.

Gemmill scored a power-play goal and shorthanded tally in the third period to make it a one-goal game.

Today marked the first ever meeting between RIT and Ryerson, a Canadian University located in Toronto, Ontario.

RIT opens the regular season on Friday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 7 at Holy Cross. The contest on Oct. 6 starts at 7:05 p.m. and is a 6:05 p.m. start the next evening.