Last weekend the women’s hockey team competed against the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in a double header on Friday and Saturday. The Raiders were victorious yet again in both games against RIT,

extending their unbeaten streak to 11 games.

Five minutes into the first period between the teams on Friday night, RIT was called for a hooking penalty, giving the Raiders a power play opportunity that sophomore defender Olivia Zafuto scored on via a slapshot. Only 38 seconds after the tally from Zafuto, junior forward Annika Zalewski won a faceoff and passed the puck to fellow junior forward Shelby Perry skating across the ice. Perry then fired the puck to sophomore forward Shae Labbe who slipped the puck past RIT goalie, Jenna de Jonge.

With a 2-0 lead heading into the second period, RIT cut the Raiders’ lead in half thanks to a power play goal. Fortunately seven minutes later, Labbe recorded her second goal of the contest off an assist from junior defender Lauren Wildfang. The rest of the second period was scoreless for both teams as the Raiders headed into the third period holding a 3-1 lead.

On a powerplay opportunity four minutes into the final period, Perry found sophomore forward Jessie Eldridge cutting to the cage who finished the puck in the back of the net. Two minutes later, RIT scored on its own power play opportunity, trimming the Raiders’ lead to 4-2. However, from that point on the Raiders dominated the final 14 minutes of action with goals from Zalewski and Labbe, her third goal of the contest. The Raiders came away victorious by a final score of 6-2.

Head Coach Greg Fargo shared positive comments regarding the team’s performance.

“We did a good job out of our end and turning those clean exits into offense. Our power play was feeling it tonight and they really made their opportunities count,” Fargo said.

The Raiders came well prepared yet again during the matchup on Saturday. Despite struggling to find the back of the net for the first few minutes of play, first-year forward Anonda Hoppner recorded her first career goal off a remarkable backhanded pass from Eldridge to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. The rest of the first period remained scoreless as did the first half of the second period.

Midway through the second period on a power play, Labbe skated from the back of the net around the boards firing a slapshot past the RIT netminder to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead. The Raiders capitalized yet again on

another powerplay just two minutes later as Zalewski passed the puck to Wildfang in front of the blue line. This resulted in a slapshot goal for the Raiders, increasing their lead to 3-0. RIT was able to capitalize on the

Raiders’ inability to get the puck out of their zone, cutting into the three goal lead. During the second half of the final period, senior defender Cat Quiron backhanded a pass to junior forward Shelby Perry followed by a pass across the ice to sophomore forward Bailey Larson who shot the puck into the top left corner. This was the final goal of the contest, ending in a 4-1 victory for Colgate.

Sophomore forward Jessie Eldridge provided enthusiastic feedback on the team’s performance from this weekend.

“We came out really strong on Friday and followed it up with another win on Saturday – it was a great weekend for our team and we are very excited for the rest of the season and hope to continue this momentum,” Eldridge said.