Box Score Boxscore
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Manhattanville women's ice hockey team lost their opening game of the 2011-12 season to Rochester Institute of Technology by a score of 6-3 as part of the ECAC East/West Classic hosted by Norwich University in Northfield, Vt.
The Tigers opened the scoring with a goal just 3:06 into the season as Kourtney Kunichika edged one past Manhattanville junior goalkeeper Emy Cote (Saint-Hubert, Quebec/Dawson College). Just over 10 minutes later RIT expanded their lead to two on a power play goal to take the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
After the break the Valiants came out with more energy than they did in the first and it showed as Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Saskatchewan/Sait Polytechnic (ACAC)) scored her first of the season by putting the puck over the shoulder of RIT net minder Laura Chamberlain to cut the lead in half, the assists were credited to juniors Katie Little (Victoria, British Columbia/Team British Columbia) and Sonia Occhionero (Montreal, Quebec/Kent School (Conn.)). Over a minute later the Tigers retook the two-goal edge.
A costly Manhattanville penalty gave RIT a power play chance that they took advantage of, as they inflated their lead to three goals. After coincidental minors were taken 12:41 mark of the second junior Mary Rose Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Stars (MFYHL)) took a shot from the top of the right circle, the rebound off the goal was placed into the vacated part of the net by junior Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ontario/Kitchener Rangers (PWHL)). The Valiants were down two once again as the period expired heading for the third.
Another early period goal by Kunichika gave the Tigers their three-goal lead once again as she scored unassisted on the power-play. A few minutes later in the period the Valiants had a two-player advantage as the Tigers had two players in the penalty box. After a quick timeout was taken by the Valiant coaching staff to give their top power play unit a break, the Valiants scored just eight seconds later.
Junior defender Lauren Nutkevitch (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College) took a hard shot from the top of the zone at the blue line that bounced off the chest of Chamberlain that was tipped in once again by Schill for her second of the game. With the lead now 5-3 in favor of RIT, Manhattanville pulled Cote from the crease in favor of the extra skater for the final 1:28.
With the net vacated Manhattanville had a great final chance with about 15 seconds remaining, the Tigers controlled the puck at their own goal line and sent it down the length of the ice for the empty netter and the victory.
In goal, Cote made 24 saves in her 58:32 of ice time while falling to 0-1-0 on the season. Picking up the win for RIT was Chamberlain who only faced three shots in the first period and turned them all away while making 18 saves on the game allowing the three Valiant tallies.
In terms of shots, Manhattanville trailed the entire game being outshot 31-23 over the course of the game. Schill led the Valiants with six shots while Morrison took three of her own. In power play chances the Valiants went 1-for-7, while RIT made the most of their chances going 3-for-7 with power play advantage.
No. 8 Manhattanville (0-1-0) will be right back in action tomorrow afternoon when they take on No. 10 Elmira as the East/West Classic continues tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. with on-air coverage available on WMVL 88.1. No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology (1-0-0) will be back in action tomorrow evening when they clash with the host school, No. 1 Norwich in a re-match of last year's NCAA Championship game.
