By: Jonpaul D'Agostino
ROCHESTER, N.Y.--- The RIT Tigers women's hockey team concluded its two game series with Mercyhurst university Saturday afternoon. RIT was hoping to get revenge after Friday`s 3-2 loss yet fell short with a tie game 1-1.
Entering a shootout following a scoreless OT and 1-1 game, both teams continued to battle back and forth, including a nice save on an almost perfectly timed Mercyhurst shot from Goalie Sara Coe, yet neither team`s representatives in the shootout were able to seal the deal and with the clock hitting 0.00 and ending in a tie.
“We were much better today than yesterday,” RIT Tigers head coach Celeste Brown said. “A ton of credit to our girls, they came out ready to play, we didn't get the result we wanted”
Goalie Sarah Coe lead both teams in saves with 27 on 28 shots on goal.
The first period was an undisciplined one for both teams. It started out eleven minutes in, when RIT Forward Nicole Ness tripped a Mercyhurst player resulting in a powerplay for the opposition, her fellow forward Jordan Bear ended up committing the same penalty just under five minutes later, sending her to the box for two minutes as well.
Neither team was unable to capitalize on their multiple power plays leaving the score 0-0 heading into the second period.
The second period followed the theme of the first, strong defense as well as some missed opportunities.
A interference call against RIT Forward Athena Vasdani gave Mercyhurst the 2 minute power play, however much like in the first period, they couldn't capitalize on it with a goal, and Vasdani returned back to her role on the ice.
Mercyhurst did try however as they outshot RIT 21-19 in the second period. Mercyhurst was also able to win the faceoff battle 11-6.
Despite that amount of shots, once again neither team was able to sink it in the goal, keeping the score 0-0 heading into the third period.
A head contact play from Defense Emma Pickering sent her to the box for 5 minutes being considered a major penalty. Mercyhurst ended up getting their own infractions, with a slashing call against Forward Chantal Ste-Croix
“There were basically no penalties yesterday” Brown said, “now its eight and three, there's somethings we cant control”
The first points of the entire game came with 8:26 left to play in the third period, Forward Jordyn Bear passed to her counterpart Athena Vasdani near the goal, Vasdani coming off the pass shot the puck into the bottom right corner of the net, making it 1-0 RIT.
With 3 minutes left, Mercyhurst was able to answer back with a goal coming from Thea Johansson as she took a long shot that went directly into the net, tying the game 1-1. The goal was assisted by Forwards Julia Schalin and Vanessa Upson.
"On the end, it kind of drained us a little bit," Tigers Goalie Sarah Coe said. "Even going into overtime I think we had a lot of confidence."
Following the goal RIT Forward Jaidan Fahrny went down for longer than normal, prompting trainers to check up on her, fortunately she was able to walk off on her own power.
With the game tied 1-1 it headed into overtime, which remained uneventful for the first 2 minutes, until Defense Kyla Bear got sent to the box for 2 minutes for a boarding call.
Despite having the penalty called against RIT in such a crucial time, Mercyhurst once again didn't put any points on the board, taking it to a shootout.
With the tie RIT is at 13-13-4 on the year, and fourth in AHA standings
“I'd be lying if we weren't looking at the standings, like that's my job,” Brown said “We are trying to stay present in the moment and be our best selves for when playoffs start.”
RIT will once again go on a two-game series as they next face off against Lindenwood this upcoming Friday at 12pm.
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