Team Notes: Raiders Resume League Play with Clarkson and St. Lawrence

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate women’s ice hockey team will resume ECAC Hockey play this weekend when it hosts Clarkson on Friday, Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. followed by St. Lawrence on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m., both at Starr Rink.

Colgate (5-11, 2-4 ECAC) is coming off a 4-2 setback to No. 3 Mercyhurst last weekend in Erie, Pa. Freshman Taylor Volpe (Tustin, Calif.) and junior Amanda Kirwan (Mississauga, Ont.) scored a goal each for the Raiders.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Twelve Colgate players have recorded three or more points for the Raiders this season, 11 of which have scored at least one goal. Sophomore Brittany Phillips (Lauder, Man.) leads the team with six goals ad seven assists for 13 points. She is followed by classmate Jenna Klynstra (Edmonton, Alta.), who has nine points off six goals and three assists.

RECORD-BOUND GOALTENDERS
Senior Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, Ont.) and junior Kimberly Sass (East Amherst, N.Y.) are currently ranked second and third respectively in program history for most saves in a career. Plenderleith moved up to second past Brook Wheeler (2004-07), after recording 24 saves against Wayne State on Oct. 22 and currently has a career total of 1,761 saves. Sass is third with 1, 297. Rebecca Lahar (2002-05) leads the way with 3,028 career saves. Both Plenderleith and Sass are also ranked in most wins in a career category. Plenderleith sits at fourth with 26 while Sass, who is ranked fifth, has 20. 

THE SERIES
Clarkson holds a slight lead in the all-time series with the Raiders, owning a 6-5-3 record. The teams first met in the 2003-04 season when Colgate defeated the Golden Knights 4-2 in Starr Rink. The Raiders, whose last win against Clarkson was a 2-0 shutout win in 2006, have a 3-2-2 home record against the Golden Knights. 

St. Lawrence leads the all-time series 14-6-2. The teams first met in the 1999-00 season, two years before Colgate became a Division I program. The Raiders, who won the most recent meeting with St Lawrence 2-1 last season, have a 3-3-2 record against the Saints at Starr Rink. 

SCOUTING CLARKSON
The Golden Knights (6-8-3, 3-1-1 ECAC) are coming off a 1-1 overtime tie and a 4-0 shutout win over Vermont in a two-game set last weekend. The team, which was picked to finish second in the preseason poll, has already secured three conference wins over Union, Rensselaer and St. Lawrence and has a tie with Brown, giving them seven points in the current ECAC standing. Its only conference loss was a 3-2 overtime setback to Yale.

Clarkson is led by senior Melissa Waldie and junior Juana Baribeau who both have 10 points each this season. Waldie has six goals and four assists while Baribeau has four goals and six assists.

SCOUTING ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints (7-6-2, 3-2-0 ECAC) are on a three-game winning streak with wins over ECAC opponents, Yale and Brown two weeks ago and most recently a win over Vermont last week. The team’s other conference win was over Union, suffering losses to Rensselaer and Clarkson.

The team, which was picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll, is led by freshmen Rylee Smith and Bailey Habscheld as well as sophomore Kayla Sullivan. Smith has a team-high 11 points off six goals and five assists while Habscheld and Sullivan have ten points from five goals and five assists apiece. 

ECAC PRESEASON POLL
The Raiders were picked to finish ninth in the ECAC preseason poll that was released on Sept. 16. The defending regular-season and tournament champion Cornell, was picked to finish first with a total of 121 points and 11 first-place votes. Following the Big Red were Clarkson (105, one first-place vote), Harvard (103), Quinnipiac (79), St. Lawrence (77), and Princeton (73), with Rensselaer (70) and Dartmouth (52) rounding off the top eight spots. Colgate (43) along with Yale (34), Brown (24) and Union (11) were the four teams picked to miss out on this season’s tournament.