Team Notes: Raiders Open Conference Play on First Road Trip

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate women’s ice hockey team will hit the road for the first time this season to play its first two ECAC Hockey opponents this weekend. The team will play Princeton on Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in Princeton, N.J. before traveling to Hamden, Conn., to face Quinnipiac on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m.

The Raiders are coming off a 0-2 weekend, losing a two-game set to Wayne State. The Warriors defeated Colgate 4-0 on Friday and then came back to defeat the Raiders 5-3 on Saturday. Freshman Taylor Volpe (Tustin, Calif.) and sophomores Brittany Phillips (Lauder, Man.) and Jenna Klynstra (Edmonton, Alta.) each scored a goal for the Raiders. This was Volpe’s first collegiate goal.

SCORING IN NUMBERS
Colgate has a variety of players all recording points. Eight players have scored at least one goal for the Raiders and 12 have at least one point. Phillips, freshman Jocelyn Simpson (Shorewood, Ill.) and sophomore Jordan Brickner (Lake Forest, Ill.) lead the team with four points apiece. Phillips has two goals and two assists, Simpson has one goal and three assists, and Brickner has four assists. 

RECORD-BOUND GOALTENDERS
Senior Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, Ont.) and junior Kimberly Sass (East Amherst, N.Y.) are currently ranked second and fourth 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 Friday to give her a career total of 1,689 saves. Sass is fourth with 1,101. Rebecca Lahar (2002-05) leads the way with 3,028 career saves. 

ROOKIES’ CONTRIBUTION
The freshmen have collectively contributed eight of the team’s 28 points this season with three goals and five assists. Simpson leads her class with a goal and three assists and is followed by Volpe who has a goal and an assist. 

THE SERIES
Princeton owns a 16-4-2 record in the all-time series with Colgate. The teams first met during the Raiders’ first season at the Division I level in 2001-02 when Princeton defeated them 4-1. Colgate’s most recent win in the series was last season when the team defeated the Tigers 4-3 at Starr Rink on Feb. 5, 2010.

Colgate leads the all-time series 13-2-3 against Quinnipiac, with the Bobcats’ only two wins coming in 2008 and a 2-1 victory last season, both at Starr Rink. The Raiders are undefeated on the road against Quinnipiac. Like with Princeton, the two teams first met in Colgate’s first season at the Division I level. 

SCOUTING PRINCETON
The Tigers (0-2) are on a two-game losing streak, suffering a 2-1 setback against Northeastern and a 4-0 shutout to Providence in its first two games last weekend. The team, which was chosen to finish sixth in the ECAC Hockey preseason coaches poll, will face Colgate on Friday followed by No. 2 Cornell on Saturday. 

Princeton is led by junior Paula Romanchuk, freshman Rose Alleva and senior Sasha Sherry who each have one point this season. Romanchuk has one goal while Alleva and Sherry have one assist apiece. Sophomore goaltender Cassie Sequin has played 116 minutes for the Tigers with 71 saves in the first two games. 

SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats (5-1-1) are coming off a 3-3 overtime tie with No. 7 Boston College last weekend. Prior to that, the team had its five-game winning streak snapped by Maine in the second game of a two-game set, which they lost 4-2. Quinnipiac, which was picked to finish fourth in the league’s preseason poll, has had wins against Niagara, Northeastern, Sacred Heart and Maine. The team will play No. 2 Cornell on Friday before facing the Raiders on Saturday afternoon.

Quinnipiac has dominated the ECAC weekly awards since the beginning of the season, boasting two rookies of the week, three players of the week and two goaltenders of the week awards. The Bobcats are led by freshman forwards Kelly Babstock and Erica Uden Johansson. Babstock has an impressive 17 points off five goals and 12 assists this season while Johansson has ten points off six goals and four assists. Sophomore goaltender Victoria Vigilanti, who earned both goaltender awards, has played 423 minutes for the Bobcats, posting 137 saves and three shutouts in seven games.