Women's Hockey hosts Lindenwood in Atlantic Hockey America Quarterfinal

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The No. 4 RIT women's hockey team hosts No. 6 Lindenwood in the Atlantic Hockey America Quarterfinal Saturday (Feb. 22) at 3:00 p.m.

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Weekend Recap (RIT vs. Penn State)
RIT went 0-2 in a pair of Atlantic Hockey America games against No. 9 Penn State, last weekend, losing 4-1 and 2-1 in overtime.
 
Senior forward Jordyn Bear scored in Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Nittany Lions. Senior forward Bronwyn Khangsar and senior defensewoman Kyla Bear each had assists and senior goalie Sarah Coe made 36 saves.
 
Kyla Bear tied the game at 1-1 on her goal at 4:40 of the first period in Saturday's overtime loss. Senior forward Kylie Aquaro and first year forward Brac Kelley each had assists and Coe finished with 46 saves which was the third-most in her career.
 
Home To Start the Playoffs
RIT secured the No. 4 seed and will host a home quarterfinal game in the Atlantic Hockey America playoffs. It is the first playoff home game for the Tigers since the 2013-14 season when the Tigers hosted Penn State for a pair of AHA semifinal games.
 
Winning Ways
RIT's 15 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 Six Games…
RIT is 2-3-1 in its last six games, averaging 2.17 goals per game while allowing 2.33 goals per contest. The Tigers are 4-of-21 (19.0%) on the power play, killing off 19-of-21 (90.4%) penalties and have won 40.2% of their face offs. Kyla Bear (6g, 1a) has seven points in the last six games while Kelley has five points on five assists. Jordyn Bear (2g, 1a), sophomore defender Emma Pickering (1g, 2a), Aquaro (1g, 2a) and sophomore forward Addie Alvarez (0g, 3a) each have three points. Coe is 2-3-1 with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage.
 
About RIT
RIT enters the weekend averaging 2.6 goals per game while allowing 2.5 goals per contest. The Tigers are 31-for-116 (26.7 %) on the power play and 92-for-109 (84.4%) killing off penalties. RIT is winning 47.7% of its face offs and have blocked 523 shots.
 
Nine Tigers have at tallied at least 10 points, including five with 20 or more points through 34 games. Alvarez leads RIT with 30 points, including a team-best 24 assists. It is the most points by a Tiger since Marissa Maugeri scored 28 points in 2013-14. Aquaro is second on the team with 27 points on nine goals and 18 assists. Kelley (9g, 14a) and Kyla Bear (9g, 14a) are tied for third with 23 points apiece. Pickering is fifth with 20 points including a team-high 11 goals.  
 
First year forward Kailey Favro has 15 points (8g, 7a), Khangsar has 12 points (5g, 7a), sophomore forward Linda Rulle has 11 points (7g, 4a) and Jordyn Bear (8g, 2a) and graduate student defender Mia Tsilemos (2g, 8a) each have 10 points. Tsilemos leads RIT with 76 blocked shots, Pickering is second with 62 and Kyla Bear is third with 52.
 
Coe is 10-11-2 with a 2.36 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Junior Sophia Bellina is 4-3-2 with a 2.41 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
 
AHA Rankings
RIT leads Atlantic Hockey America in power play percentage (26.7%) and is second in penalty killing percentage (84.4%). The Tigers are third in goals per game (2.59), points per game (6.65), assists (138), assists per game (4.06), goals allowed per game (2.50) and blocked shots per game (15.38).
 
Alvarez is second in the league in assists (24) and assists per game (0.73) and is fourth in points (30) and points per game (0.91). Aquaro is eighth in the league in points (27), ninth in points per game (0.79), sixth in in assists (18) and tied for fourth with five power play goals.
 
Pickering is tied for ninth in the league in goals (11), first with eight power play tallies and tenth in blocked shots (62). Kyla Bear is 11th in blocked shots (52), Kelley is fifth winning 56.2% of her face offs and Jordyn Bear is eighth in the league with 247 face-off wins. Junior forward Jaidan Fahrny is ninth in face-off winning percentage (50.7%), senior forward Megan McCormick is 11th in face-off winning percentage (48.8%) and Tsilemos is third with 76 blocked shots.
 
Coe is fourth in the league with a 2.36 GAA, fifth with a .922 save percentage and fourth averaging 27.83 saves per game.
 
National Rankings
RIT is fourth in Division I with 31 power play goals and sixth converting 26.7 percent of its power play chances. The Tigers are 14th in the country in goals (88) and 15th in assists (138) and scoring offense (2.59) and 16th in penalty-killing percentage (84.4%). Alvarez is 15th nationally averaging 0.73 assists per game, Pickering is tied for fourth with eight power play goals and Aquaro is tied for 20th with five power play tallies.
 
About Lindenwood
Lindenwood swept two games at Robert Morris last weekend winning 5-1 and 6-2. Senior forward Morgan Neitzke scored two goals in Friday's 5-1 win, while first year forward Silje Gundersen tallied a goal and two assists. Senior forward Sydney Rarick and sophomore forward Zsofia Pazmandi each had a goal, and an assist and senior goalie Anna LaRose made 31 saves in net.
 
Nietzke tallied two goals and an assist in Saturday's win. Junior forward Olivia Grabianowski had two assists and Pazmandi and graduate student forward Gigi Pora each had a goal and an assist. First year goalie Catherine Hodgins made 36 saves in net to earn the win.
 
Lindenwood is fifth in Atlantic Hockey America averaging 1.94 goals per game and sixth allowing 4.38 goals per contest. The Lions are fifth converting 11.8% of their power plays and sixth stopping their opponent's power plays 72.3% of the time.
 
Nietzke leads the team and is ninth in the AHA with 26 points. She is fifth in the league with 14 goals and leads the Lions with 12 assists. Pazmandi is second on the team with 14 points (8g, 6a) and Pora (8g, 5a) and Gundersen (6g, 7a) are tied for third with 13 points apiece.
 
LaRose has two wins this season with a 4.27 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage. Hodgins has two wins and a 3.35 GAA and a .904 save percentage, while first year Madison Bowtell has a 4.96 goals-against average and an .865 save percentage in 15 games this season.
 
RIT vs. Lindenwood
Lindenwood is 23-21-6 all time against RIT. This season, the Tigers are 4-0 against the Lions. RIT swept two games at the Gene Polisseni Center Dec. 6-7 winning 9-4 and 4-2. RIT won 4-1 at Lindenwood (Feb. 7) and 4-3 in overtime the following day. RIT is averaging 5.25 goals per game, while allowing 2.5 goals per contest in four games this season.
 
RIT is 1-0 against Lindenwood in the AHA playoffs winning 6-4 in the 2021-22 quarterfinals.
 
Alvarez has 10 points (1g, 9a), while Kelley (2g, 4a) and Aquaro (1g, 5a) each have six points against the Lions. Jordyn Bear has four goals versus Lindenwood and Pickering, Favro and Kyla Bear each have tallied three goals.
 
Coe is 3-0 against Lindenwood this season with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.  
 
Among the All-Time Netminders
Coe enters the weekend second all-time in career saves (2,727), minutes played (5,093) and games played (90). She is 12 games shy of tying Terra Lanteigne for No. 1 (102 games), 690 minutes shy of tying Lanteigne (5,783 minutes) and 527 saves shy of tying Lanteigne for career saves (3,254). She is tied for tenth all-time with 17 career wins.
 
Junior goalie Sophia Bellina is eighth all-time with a .928 save percentage and saves (914) and 11h in games played (38), minutes played (1,910) and a career 2.23 goals-against average.
 
Top 100 Scorers
Five Tigers are ranked in the top 100 in all-time scoring. Aquaro is tied for 23rd all-time in scoring with 76 points (24g, 52a). Kyla Bear is 54th (15g, 38a) with 53 points and Alvarez (14g, 36a) is 57th with 50 points. Vasdani is tied for 66th with 42 points (17g, 25a) and Pickering is tied for 97th with 32 points (16g, 16a).
 
Career Milestones
Senior defensewoman Bailey Kehl is three blocks shy of 170 for her career and Vasdani if three goals shy of 20 and five assists shy of 30. 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 four assists short of 40 for her career. Aquaro is one goal shy of 25 and three assists short of 55. Graduate student Mia Tsilemos is four blocks shy of 290 for her career.
 
Century Mark
Ten Tigers have surpassed the 100 games-played plateau. Tsilemos (147), graduate student forward Nicole Ness (142), McCormick (134), Vasdani (133), Kyla Bear (131), senior defensewoman Jessie Burks (129), Aquaro (127), Kehl (123), senior defensewoman Addie Carr (109) and Jordyn Bear (109).
 
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.
 
 
 
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.