Women's Hockey travels to Penn State for AHA Semifinal series

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The No. 4 RIT women's hockey team hits the road to face No. 1 Penn State in the Atlantic Hockey America Semifinals this weekend. The best-of-three series begins Friday (Feb. 28) at 3:00 p.m. Game two is Saturday (March 1) at 2:00 p.m. and if necessary, game three faces off at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday (March 2). 

AHA Quarterfinal Recap (No. 4 RIT vs. No. 5 Lindenwood)
RIT defeated Lindenwood 4-0 in the Atlantic Hockey America Quarterfinal, Saturday. First year forward Kailey Favro recorded a career-high three points on two goals and an assist. Senior forward Kylie Aquaro tallied a goal and two assists and sophomore defensewoman Emma Pickering handed out a career-best two assists. Sophomore forward Addie Alvarez had two assists and senior goalie Sarah Coe made 25 saves to record her fourth shutout of the season and fifth of her career.  
 
Saturday's quarterfinal was the first home playoff game since the Tigers hosted Penn State for a best-of-three series in 2013-14 and was the Tigers first playoff win since a 6-4 win over Lindenwood on Feb. 24, 2022.
 
Winning Ways
RIT's 16 wins is the most in a season since the Tigers won 15 games in 2014-15, finishing with a 15-15-4 overall record.  
 
The Last Five Games…
RIT is 3-2 in its last five games, averaging 2.80 goals per game while allowing 2.00 goals per contest. The Tigers are 6-of-21 (28.6%) on the power play, killing off 12-of-13 (92.3%) penalties and have won 44.5% of their face offs. Aquaro has six points on two goals and four assists in the last five games. Senior defender Kyla Bear has five points including four goals, while Pickering has a goal and four assists. First year forward Brac Kelley has four assists and five points in the last five games winning 57.1 percent of her draws. Coe is 3-2 with a 1.98 goals-against average and .943 save percentage.
 
About RIT
RIT enters the weekend averaging 2.6 goals per game while allowing 2.4 goals per contest. The Tigers are 33-for-118 (28.0 %) on the power play and 92-for-109 (84.4%) killing off penalties. RIT is winning 47.8% of its face offs and have blocked 548 shots.
 
Ten Tigers have at tallied at least 10 points, including five with 20 or more points through 35 games. Alvarez leads RIT with 32 points, including a team-best 26 assists. Aquaro is second on the team with 30 points on 10 goals and 20 assists. Kelley is third on the team with 24 points (9g, 15a) and Kyla Bear is fourth with 23 points (9g, 14a). Pickering is fifth with 22 points and leads the Tigers with 11 goals.
 
Favro has 18 points (10g, 8a) and sophomore forward Linda Rulle (8g, 4a) and senior forward Bronwyn Khangsar (5g, 7a) each have 12 points. Senior forward Jordyn Bear (8g, 2a) and graduate student defender Mia Tsilemos (2g, 8a) each have 10 points. Tsilemos leads the Tigers with 78 blocked shots.
 
Coe is 11-11-2 with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. Junior Sophia Bellina is 4-3-2 with a 2.41 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
 
Inside the Numbers...
RIT is 9-1-1 when leading after the first period and 14-2-1 when ahead after the second period. The Tigers are 9-1-1 when scoring four goals and 11-3-3 when allowing fewer than three goals. The Tigers are 10-1-2 when scoring the first goal.
 
AHA Rankings
RIT leads Atlantic Hockey America in power play percentage (28.0%) and power play goals (33). The Tigers are second in the league in penalty killing percentage (84.4%). RIT is third in goals (92), goals per game (2.63), assists (146), assists per game (4.17), points per game (6.80), goals allowed per game (2.43) and blocked shots per game (15.66).  
 
Alvarez is second in the league in assists (26) and assists per game (0.76) and is third in points (32) and points per game (0.94). Aquaro is fifth in the league in points (30) and power play goals (5). She is sixth in points per game (0.86), assists (20) and assists per game (0.57).
 
Pickering is first in the AHA with eight power play goals, ninth in goals (11), tenth in goals per game (0.31) and blocked shots (65). Kelley is fifth in face-off winning percentage (56/1%) and 11th in assists (15). Jordyn Bear is eighth in face-off wins (258) and junior Jaidan Fahrny is ninth in face-off winning percentage (50.6%). Tsilemos is third in blocked shots (78) and Kyla Bear is 11th with 59 blocked shots. Favro and Rulle are tied for sixth with four power play goals.
 
Coe is fourth in the league with a 2.26 GAA, fifth with a .925 save percentage and fourth averaging 27.71 saves per game.
 
National Rankings
RIT is second in Division I with 33 power play goals and fourth in power play percentage. The Tigers are 14th in assists (146) and tied for 14th in goals (92). RIT is tied for 15th in scoring offense (2.63), 16th in team saves (944) and tied for 25th in scoring defense (2.43). Pickering is tied for fifth in Division I with eight power play goals, Alvarez is tied for 13th in assists per game (0.76) and Coe is tied for 13th in shutouts (4).
 
All-Atlantic Hockey America...
Two Tigers were named to the 2025 All-Atlantic Hockey America Team. Sophomore defender Emma Pickering was a first team selection while first year forward Brac Kelley was named to the All-Rookie Team.
 
About Penn State
Penn State enters this weekend's AHA Semifinals first in the league in goals per game (3.62) and goals allowed per game (1.53). The Nittany Lions lead the league killing off 84.8 percent of their penalties and fourth converting 18.0 percent of their power play chances.  
 
Junior forward Tessa Janecke leads Penn State and the AHA with 48 points, 21 goals and 27 assists. Junior forward Katelyn Roberts (1og, 21a) is second on the team and fourth in the league with 31 points and junior forward Maddy Christian (18g, 11a) is third on the team and tied for sixth in the league with 29 points. Roberts is fifth in the league in assists and Christian is second in the AHA in goals.  
 
Junior goalie Kate DeSa leads the AHA with a 1.40 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. She is eighth in the league averaging 18.93 saves per game.  
 
RIT vs. Penn State
Penn State is 4-0 against RIT this season. The Nittany Lions won 3-0 and 3-2 in University Park (Jan. 10-11) and 4-1 and 2-1 in OT at the Gene Polisseni Center (Feb. 14-15). The Tigers are averaging 1.0 goals per game against Penn State and allow 3.0 goals per contest.
 
Kyla Bear has a goal and two assists, while Kelley (1g, 1a), Khangsar and Aquaro each have two assists. Coe has a 2.99 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage in four games this season.
 
Penn State is 6-5 in the AHA playoffs. The Nittany Lions swept RIT 2-1 and 4-0 in last season's semifinal series. RIT's last playoff win was a 2-1 victory on March 2, 2017. The Tigers swept a pair of games 3-2 (OT) and 3-2 in 2014 and a swept the Nittany Lions 1-0 and 3-2 (OT) March 1-2, 2013.
 
Among the All-Time Netminders
Coe enters the weekend second all-time in career saves (2,752), minutes played (5,153) and games played (91). She is 11 games shy of tying Terra Lanteigne for No. 1 (102 games), 630 minutes shy of tying Lanteigne (5,783 minutes) and 502 saves shy of tying Lanteigne for career saves (3,254). She is tenth all-time with 18 career wins.
 
Top 100 Scorers
Five Tigers are ranked in the top 100 in all-time scoring. Aquaro is tied for tied for 22nd all-time in scoring with 79 points (25g, 54a). Kyla Bear is 54th (15g, 38a) with 53 points and Alvarez (14g, 38a) is 55th with 52 points. Senior forward Athena Vasdani is tied for 66th with 42 points (17g, 25a) and Pickering is tied for 86th with 34 points (16g, 18a).
 
Career Milestones
Senior defensewoman Bailey Kehl is three blocks shy of 170 for her career and Vasdani if three goals shy of 20 and three points shy of 45. Kyla Bear (14g, 38a) is two assists shy of 40 and two points shy of 55 for her career. Alvarez is one goal shy of 15 and two assists short of 40 for her career. Aquaro is one assist shy of 55 and one point short of 80. Tsilemos is two blocks shy of 290 for her career.
 
Century Mark
Ten Tigers have surpassed the 100 games-played plateau. Tsilemos (148), graduate student forward Nicole Ness (143), McCormick (135), Vasdani (134), Kyla Bear (132), senior defensewoman Jessie Burks (130), Aquaro (128), Kehl (123), senior defensewoman Addie Carr (110) and Jordyn Bear (110).  
 
Ranked Opponents
RIT played four teams ranked in the USCHO Division I Women's Poll. The Tigers are 1-6-1 splitting a pair of games against No. 6 Colgate (Oct. 11-12). The Tigers went 0-1-1 versus No. 11 St. Lawrence (Oct. 25-26) and lost 5-2 at No. 7 Cornell (Nov. 26) and 5-1 (Dec. 31). RIT went 0-4-0 against No. 9 Penn State.