Women's Hockey hosts Lindenwood for a pair of Atlantic Hockey America contests

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT women's hockey team hosts Lindenwood for a pair of Atlantic Hockey America contests this Friday and Saturday (Dec. 6-7) at the Gene Polliseni Center. Friday's game starts at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday begins at 1:00 p.m.

Follow Live
Watch: www.flohockey.tv/teams/6971052-rit-womens-hockey
Friday: PxP/Color: Rocky Perotta, Scott Biggar
Saturday PxP/Color: Rocky Perotta, Jacob Campbell
Local Audio: WITR 89.7 FM
Web Audio: witr.rit.edu 
Live Stats:  ritathletics.com/sidearmstats/whockey
Twitter: @RITWHKY

Midweek Recap (RIT at No. 7 Cornell)
RIT lost 5-1 at No. 7 Cornell, Tuesday. The Big Red led 2-0 after the second period and extended their lead to 3-0 on a goal 29 seconds into the third. Senior forward Jordyn Bear and sophomore forward Linda Rulle scored back-to-back power play goals 1:13 apart in the third to cut the deficit to 3-2, but Cornell tacked on two power plat goals to make it a 5-2 final.
 
Senior defensewoman Kyla Bear, first year forward Brac Kelley, sophomore defender Emma Pickering and sophomore forward Addie Alvarez each had an assist and first year goalie Brenna McNamara made 28 saves in her first collegiate start.
 
Where They Stand (AHA)
RIT is tied for fourth with Lindenwood in the Atlantic Hockey American standings with seven points. The Tigers are three points behind third-place Syracuse and five points behind Mercyhurst (12 points).
 
Keep the (Point) Streak Alive
Pickering has tallied at least one point in the three straight games. She scored a goal at Mercyhurst (Nov. 22), tallied two goals the following day against the Lakers and had an assist at No. 7 Cornell (Nov. 26). Rulle (2g) has a point in two straight games.
 
Power (Play) Surge
RIT is 6-of-10 (60%) on the power play in the last two games. The Tigers went 4-of-6 in a win at Mercyhurst (Nov. 23) and went 2-or-4 at No. 7 Cornell (Nov. 26).
 
Among the All-Time Netminders
Coe enters the weekend first in career saves (2,2799), third in games played (76) and minutes played (4,243) and 11th with a career .905 save percentage. Bellina is seventh all-time with a .930 save percentage, eighth in saves (876) and tenth in games played (36), minutes played (1,790) and a career 2.21 goals-against average.
 
Top 100 Scorers
Four Tigers are ranked in the top 100 in all-time scoring. Senior forward Kylie Aquaro enters the weekend tied for 39th all-time in scoring with 63 points (20g, 43a). Senior forward Athena Vasdani (16g, 22a) and senior defensewoman Kyla Bear (6g, 32a) are tied for 72nd with 38 points and sophomore forward Addie Alvarez is tied for 99th with 31 points (13g, 18a).
 
Career Milestones
Senior defensewoman Bailey Kehl needs three blocked shots to reach 165 for her career. Senior forward Athena Vasdani (16g, 22a, 38p) and Kyla Bear (6g, 22a) are two points shy of 40 for their careers, while Aquaro is one point shy of 65 (20g, 44a) and two assists short of 45. Bear and Graduate student defender Mia Tsilemos have surpassed 200 career blocks. Tsilemos needs two blocks to reach 240, while Bear is four blocks shy of 205.
 
Century Mark
Eight Tigers have surpassed the 100 games-played plateau. Graduate students Mia Tsilemos (130) and Nicole Ness (125), senior forward Megan McCormick (117), Kehl and Vasdani (116), Kyla Bear (115) and Aquaro (110).
 
About RIT
RIT enters the weekend averaging 2.4 goals per game while allowing 2.4 goals per contest. The Tigers are 15-for-63 (23.8 %) on the power play and 43-for-51 (84.3%) killing off penalties. RIT is winning 48.4% of its face offs and have blocked 280 shots.
 
Nineteen Tigers have at tallied at least one point through 17 games led by Aquaro who has 14 points on five goals and a team-high nine assists. Alvarez is second with 11 points (5g, 6a) and leads the team with two game-winning goals. Pickering is third with 10 points and leads the team with seven goals, including a team-high five power play tallies. First year forward Brac Kelley is fourth with nine points. Kyla Bear is second on the team with eight assists and 37 blocked shots.   
 
Senior goalie Sarah Coe is 5-3-1 with a 2.07 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage, while junior Sophia Bellina is 2-3-2 with a 2.39 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
 
AHA Rankings
RIT leads Atlantic Hockey America in power play percentage (23.8%) and is second in goals per game (2.41), points per game (5.82), assists (58), assists per game (3.41) and penalty-killing percentage (84.3%). The Tigers are third in goals allowed per game (2.41), and blocked shots per game (16.47).
 
Aquaro is sixth in the AHA in points and points per game (0.82). She is seventh in assists and sixth in assists per game (0.53). Pickering is second in the conference with five power play goals, third in goals per game (0.41) and tied for third in goals. The sophomore defender is tied for fourth in the league with 37 blocked shots.
 
Kyla Bear eighth in the AHA in assists per game (0.47) and tied for eighth in assists and sixth with 36 blocked shots. Kelley is fifth with 135 face-off wins and sixth in the league winning 57.5 percent of her face-offs. Senior forward Megan McCormick is eighth winning 50.0 percent of her draws and senior forward Jordyn Bear is eighth in the league with 125 face-off wins.
 
Coe is fourth in Atlantic Hockey America with a 2.07 goals-against average, while Bellina is fifth with a 2.39 GAA. Coe is fifth in save percentage (.922) and Bellina is sixth (.920).
 
National Rankings
RIT is sixth in Division I with 15 power play goals and eighth converting 23.8 percent of its power play chances. The Tigers are tied for 15th with 41 goals and tied for 19th in penalty killing percentage (84.3%). RIT is 20th in scoring offense (2.41) and team saves (441) and 22nd with 58 assists.
 
Pickering is tied for fifth nationally with five power play goals and Coe is 29th with a .922 save percentage.
 
About Lindenwood
Lindenwood split a pair of Atlantic Hockey America games against Syracuse, losing 2-1 on Friday and rebounding with a 4-1 win the following day.
 
Sophomore forward Zsofia Pazmandi scored a goal and senior goalie Anna LaRose made 20 saves in Friday's loss. Pazmandi tallied a goal, and an assist and first year goalie Madison Bowtell made 32 saves in Saturday's win. Trailing 1-0, Lindenwood scored three first-period goals and added an empty-net goal late in the third period to win 4-1.
 
Lindenwood enters the weekend tied for third in Atlantic Hockey America averaging 1.88 goals per game and sixth allowing 4.56 goals per contest. The Lions are fifth in the AHA converting 10.0% of their power plays and sixth in the conference stopping their opponents power play 65.4 percent of the time.
 
Senior forward Morgan Nietzke leads the team and is tied for seventh in the league with 13 points on six goals and seven assists. Sophomore forward Sidney Jackel is second on the team with nine points (3g, 6a) and junior forward Molly Henderson is third with six points (2g, 4a).
 
LaRose and Bowtell have each played in 10 games. LaRose is 1-7-0 with a 4.69 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage, while Bowtell is 1-5-1 with a 4.42 GAA and a .878 save percentage.
 
RIT vs. Lindenwood
Lindenwood is 23-17-6 all-time against RIT. The Tigers went 1-3-0 against the Lions last season, including a 6-2 win at the Gene Polisseni Center.
 
They Come from Far and Wide
The 26 Tigers hail from 11 states, two Canadian provinces and one country in Europe, with the largest groups coming from Ontario (6), Saskatchewan (4), Pennsylvania (3) and Illinois (3). Players hail from as close as Rochester, NY to as far away as Pale, Latvia (4,192 miles).
 
Ranked Opponents
RIT plays four teams ranked in this week's USCHO Division I Women's Poll. The Tigers are 1-3-1 splitting a pair of games against No. 6 Colgate (Oct. 11-12) and went 0-1-1 versus No. 11 St. Lawrence (Oct. 25-26). The Tigers lost 5-2 at No. 7 Cornell (Nov. 26) in the first of two games in a home-and-home series (Dec. 31). RIT plays No. 12 Penn State (Jan. 10-11, Feb. 14-15).
 
Atlantic Hockey America
Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) embarks on its first season in 2024-25 after the merger between the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America. The conference fields 11 men's teams (American International College, Bentley University, Canisius College, The College of Holy Cross, Mercyhurst University, Niagara University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Robert Morris University, Sacred Heart University, the United States Air Force Academy, and the United States Military Academy), and six women's teams (Lindenwood University, Mercyhurst University, Penn State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Robert Morris University, and Syracuse University). In 2025-26, Delaware University will join the women's league.