The Raiders will return to the ice this weekend when they take on the Syracuse Orange in a non-conference match-up on Saturday, Jan. 2. The game is slated for 4 p.m. at the Tennity Ice Pavilion in Syracuse, N.Y. This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season after Colgate hosted the Orange back on Nov. 24.

 

Syracuse –The Orange currently sport an overall record of 11-7-1 and a mark of 4-2-0 in the College Hockey America conference. Syracuse last series was back on Dec. 11-12 when they faced fellow ECAC opponent Princeton. The Orange defeated the Tigers, 4-3 on Dec. 11 followed by a 1-0 shut-out in overtime. Stefanie Marty is the leading scorer for Syracuse with 22 points off of 11 goals and 11 assists. Julie Rising and Isabel Menard add 19 points apiece with Menard leading the squad in assists with 12 along with seven goals. Rising has nine goals and 10 assists for the Orange. Lucy Schoedel has played in all 19 games for the Orange this season recording a .916 save percentagea 2.3 goals against average and two shut-outs.

The Raiders, currently 4-12-3 overall, last played back on Dec. 6 falling to Yale, 3-0, after defeating Brown, 4-2, the previous day.Junior Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, Ont.) had 14 saves against the Bulldogs and 25 against the Bears.Senior Katie Stewart (Exeter, Ont.) and rookie Brittany Phillips (Lauder, Man.) each had a goal and an assist in the win against Brown with Jordan Brickner (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Hannah Milan (Great Barrington, Mass.) each adding a goal. Sophomore Heidi Peterson (Hastings, Minn.) picked up an assist for the Raiders to earn her first collegiate point.   

 

Syracuse –The Raiders hold a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series which began last season with Syracuse's inaugural season. Colgate won their first meeting this season, 5-4, led by senior Katie Stewart with one goal and two assists. Ali Edell (Mountain Lakes, N.J.), Evan Minnick (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Marissa Dombovy (Webster, N.Y.) and Jordan Brickner also had goals in the Raiders' win. Lisa Plenderleith collected 20 saves in goal while the Orange's Lucy Schoedel had 33 stops. Stefanie Marty led the Orange offensively with a goal and an assist. 

 

Katie Stewart leads the way for the Raiders in scoring with 19 points off of 10 goals and nine assists, followed by classmate Evan Minnick with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Jessi Waters (Menlo Park, Calif.) has ten points from eight assists and two goals, while rookie Brittany Phillips leads the freshman class with ten points off of two goals seven goals and three assists.  Goaltenders Lisa Plenderleith and Kimberly Sass (East Amherst, N.Y.) have split time between the posts this season. Plenderleith holds a 3-7-1 record along with a .875 save percentage and 3.41 goals against average. Sass is 1-5-2 on the season with a .857 save percentage and a 4.31 goals against average.

The Raiders were selected to finish eighth in the ECAC Hockey Preseason Poll as chosen by conference coaches. The Raiders received a total of 52 votes, while top-choice St. Lawrence grabbed the No. 1 spot with 107 votes including three first place votes.

 

Head coach Scott Wiley is in his eighth season at the helm of the Raiders. He currently holds a Colgate career record of 105-120-27. Wiley led last year's team to a school record 19 wins, including an eight-game unbeaten streak in January. The 2003-04 ECAC Coach of the Year has high hopes for this year's team and will look to make this eighth straight ECAC playoff appearance.