In the last two weeks the women’s ice hockey team played four games, two against University of Connecticut and two against Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The Raiders finished their weekend at UConn losing 3-2, followed by their first win of the season with a score of 1-0. Likewise, in this past weekend’s matchup Colgate and RIT finished with one win apiece.

On Friday night, the Raiders played their first contest of the set against a tough RIT team and, although Colgate controlled much of the play, they ended the night with a 2-0 loss.

In the first period the Raiders held the shot advantage at 11-4 with two man-up opportunities throughout the period. In addition, senior Jocelyn Simpson and junior Taylor Craig led the Raiders with two close shots, each during power plays, while junior goalie Susan Allen came up with a huge save at the 12:20 mark, ending the period with no goals from either team.

At the beginning of the second period, the RIT Tigers were given a 5-on-3 power play after the Raiders were called for interference and hooking. After deflecting one of the Tigers’ shots the Raiders gave up the first goal of the game as the Tigers took advantage of the extra man opportunity, giving RIT a 1-0 lead. Just a minute later, Colgate had a big opportunity when RIT was called for checking, managing to take a few strong shots to the front of the net but unable to put any of them away. Soon thereafter, Tiger rookie Lauren Klein saw an opening and fired the puck past Allen’s left shoulder, ending the second period with a 2-0 Tiger lead.

In the final frame, the Tigers were not giving the Raiders any chances to come back. Colgate’s closest scoring opportunity came within the last three minutes of the contest when they pulled their goalie to allow for a 6-on-4 after a slashing call on the Tigers. Senior Stephanie Giannopoulos received the puck in front of the net from senior Rachel Walsh, but she was unable to secure a good shot. Despite a few more close chances in the final minutes, the Tigers gave up no goals and left the rink with a win.

Although the Raiders finished their hard-fought game on Friday night with a loss, they came back the next day to beat the Tigers 2-1 in overtime.

The Raiders had a couple of good opportunities in the first period when first-year Kayla Haus and sophomore Katelyn Parker had back-to-back shots on goal, but Tigers goalie Jetta Rackleff came up with two big saves. Colgate’s sophomore goalie Ashlynne Rando also made two great stops in the first period, keeping the contest tied at 0-0 going into the middle frame.

Early in the second period, Giannopoulos shot the puck from point-blank range, but Rackleff managed to make the stop. Then, at the 7:37 mark, Colgate converted a man-up opportunity after a roughing penalty on RIT, giving junior Miriam Drubel her third goal of the season and putting the Raiders ahead 1-0 in the game. However, RIT quickly answered about a minute later, tying the game 1-1 at the end of the period.

The Tigers had three straight power play opportunities in the third period, but the Raiders played a strong defense and successfully sent the game into overtime.

The win almost went to RIT when they went into overtime on a power play after a hooking call on Colgate late in the final period, but Kolbee McCrea of the Tigers could not make good on her opportunity when the puck took a bad deflection off her stick. RIT was then called for back-to-back penalties, giving Colgate a 5-on-3 opportunity. Sophomore Nicole Gass saw an opening and took a shot on goal, which was then redirected into the net by first-year Liz Trautz, securing the 2-1 win for the Raiders.

Although RIT outshot Colgate 41-29, the Raiders really got their power play back on track in order to take home their second win of the season.

Next up, the Raiders face St. Lawrence and Clarkson at home for Family Weekend. The first matchup against St. Lawrence will be Friday October 25 at 4 p.m. and the Clarkson contest will be Saturday October 24 

at 3 p.m.

Contact Jack Murray at [email protected].