ROCHESTER, NY - The Union College women's ice hockey program opened the 2014-15 season with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of RIT. Junior Jamie Smith tallied the lone goal for the Dutchwomen while senior goaltender Shenae Lundberg was named the game's third star, stopping 40-of-42 shots for Union.

RIT came out strong with 11 shots on goal over the first six minutes en route to a 23-6 edge in the first period. The Tigers threw everything but the kitchen sink at Lundberg, but she was solid, making several big saves to keep the game scoreless.

Tigers netminder Ali Binnington made a huge save early in the second period on Nicole Russell, who deked a pair of Tigers before trying to go high on the RIT netminder, but she held her ground.

Lindsay Grigg opened the scoring 4:45 into the second on the power-play, completing a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play from Mackenzie Stone and Haley Northcote. Northcote corralled the puck at the point and fed a pass down low to Stone on the right side down low. Stone fired a perfect cross-ice pass to Grigg, who was all alone at the left side of the net for an easy tap in.

In the final minute of the period, Union was able to tie the game, as Smith poked home a rebound off a shot from Christine Valente in front. Kaminsky forced a turnover behind the RIT net and sent a pass out front to Valent. Valente's shot was stopped by Binnington, but Smith was there to stuff the puck past the RIT goaltender and quiet the loud RIT crowd just 33 seconds before the end of the second period.

With the game tied at 1-1 midway through the third period, Stenason took a feed from defenseman Northcote in the neutral zone, cruised into the Union zone and from just outside the left face-off circle, unleashed a wicked slapshot that went off the crossbar and in over the shoulder of Lundberg to give RIT a 2-1 edge.

RIT, who did a tremendous job killing off 1:37 of a Union 5-on-3 power-play early in the third period, had 1:22 of a 5-on-3 power-play of its own later in the period. Celeste Brown deflected a shot past Lundberg, but it rang off the post and RIT was unable to score on the advantage.

With just 15 seconds left in regulation, Jessica Kamisky went around a Tiger defenseman at the blueline and had a tremendous chance to tie the game, but Binnington made her 19th save of the night the biggest, smothering the point blank shot and preserving the win for RIT.

The Tigers finished with a 42-20 shots advantage over Union. RIT was 1-for-7 with the man-advantage, while Union was 0-for-4.

The two programs will complete thier two-game weekend set tomorrow afternoon with the opening faceoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m.