#2 RIT 7, Utica 1 - Box Score

Rochester, NY (11-6-11) – The Utica College women's hockey team lost its ECAC Women's West Conference opener Saturday afternoon against nationally-ranked No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology, 7-1.  Freshman Kelsey Dowdall (Smiths Falls, ONT/Nepean) led the Pioneers with one goal, while sophomore net minder Jennifer Hamel (Ithaca, NY/Northwood School) tied the school-record with 56 saves.  Hamel tied one of the program's longest standing single-game records, set by  Krystal Champagne against Colgate University back in 2002. 

RIT killed four UC power-play opportunities over the course of the first 11 minutes of play before taking a 1-0 lead.  The Tigers opened the scoring at 11:45, on their second power-play, when Kourtney Kunichika converted her third goal of the season off assists from Kristina Moss and Ariane Yokoyama. At the end of the first period, UC killed an RIT power-play to keep the deficit at a manageable 1-0. 

Early in the second period the Tigers recorded the eventual game-winner when Kim Schlattman found the back of the net for her first goal of the year to take a 2-0 advantage.  Following 10 minutes of scoreless play, RIT took advantage of another man-up situation to take a 3-0 lead at 10:58.  Tiger Kolbee McCrea scored her first goal of the season off dishes from Kunichika and Moss.  The Pioneers killed another power-play as they returned to full strength at 13:58 but the home team would take a 4-0 lead at 17:53 to put the contest out of reach. 

Utica eventually got on the board with 15 seconds remaining in the second period when Dowdall registered her second goal of her freshman campaign at 19:45.  Freshman Nicole Schawrtz recorded her second collegiate assist, while Megan Myers (Las Vegas, NV/LA Selects) tallied her team-leading fourth assist on the play.

The Tigers controlled most of the final period scoring three more goals, two of which on the power-play, to seal the win.  In the end, ten Pioneer penalties hindered any chance of defeating the nation's soon-to-be No. 1 ranked team. 

Hamel had the first crack at RIT as she tallied 56 saves.  Senior Marissa Hotaling (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) will get the start Sunday as the Pioneers currently feature a two-goalie system in net.

The weekend series will commence Sunday wehn the Pioneers take on the Tigers at 3 p.m. at the Ritter Arena in Rochester, NY.

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