HAMILTON – The Colgate Women's Ice Hockey team continued its winning ways with a 3-1 victory over RIT here Saturday afternoon to sweep the weekend home-and-home series.

Colgate jumped out in front with the lone goal of the opening period after Olivia Zafuto found Shae Labbe for her team-leading seventh of the season. The tally came 15:10 into the period and handed the Raiders the early one-goal edge.

RIT answered back in the second frame with a goal from Victoria Pitawanakwat at the five minute mark. But first-year Jessie Eldridge got her team back on top midway through that period with the eventual game-winner.

To ice the win, fellow classmate Bailey Larson netted a short-handed goal just two minutes into the third frame. Her tally handed Colgate its second short-handed marker in as many contest.

Rookie Julia Vandyk made several key stops throughout the game, including a goal-saving one in the final period to keep RIT out of the net. The win gave the Cambridge, Ontario, native her second career win between the pipes.

Colgate struck first after Zafuto skated the puck down the ice and made a beautiful cross over to Labbe, who then fired it past the Tigers' netminder Brooke Stoddard.

Pitawanakwat had an unassisted tally early in the second frame that knotted things up at 1-all.

Eldridge turned the score back in the Raiders' favor with a goal 12:36 into the period. Breanne Wilson-Bennett and Larson recorded the helpers.

Minutes into the third, Larson scooped up the puck near the blue line and skated in to get the short-hander insurance tally.

The Colgate defense upped the pressure to keep the Tigers from staging a comeback in the final minutes of play after Stoddard was pulled to gain an extra RIT attacker.

Vandyk registered a career-high 32 saves in net, while Stoddart also recorded 32 stops.

The Raiders are back in action Tuesday when they travel to nearby rival Cornell for a 7 p.m. tilt.

Live stats and video will be available at the start of the contest.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 3, RIT 1
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improves to 6-2-4 overall.
• RIT shifts to 3-10-0 on the season.
 
Key Raider Info
• Larson, Eldridge, and Labbe led the Raiders in shots with four each.
• Labbe, Larson, and Eldridge had the three Raider goals.
• Larson led the team in points with two. Four other Raiders recorded one point each.
 
Raider Goals
• 1st period: Labbe, assist to Zafuto.
• 2nd period: Eldridge, assisted by Wilson-Bennett and Larson.
• 3rd period: Larson (SH), unassisted.
 
Facts & Figures
• The Raiders were 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Tigers went 0-for-5.
• Colgate outshot RIT by a slim margin of 35-33.
• Five players recorded points in the contest for Colgate.
• Vandyk recorded a career-high 32 saves, bringing her career total to 69.
 
From The Source
• Head coach Greg Fargo (on the game) "Another great effort by our group today. We competed really hard right until the very end. It was a well deserved sweep this weekend."

"I'm really pleased with our team, we keep improving every week. The best is yet to come for this group."

Up Next
• The Raiders are back in action Tuesday at rival Cornell for an important ECAC Hockey contest.
• Game time is set for 7 p.m.
• Live stats and video will be available at the start of the game.

Game Archive