| Mayor's Cup: Union at RPI |
| Saturday, January 28, 2023 • Albany, N.Y. • MVP Arena • 3:00 p.m. |
| Live Stats • Live Audio |
Union will take on ECAC opponent RPI on Friday to wrap up their season series with the Engineers. Saturday's game will be the fifth meeting between the Engineers and Dutchwomen for the Capital Districts' Mayor's Cup.
Mayor's Cup:
- Saturday's game will be the fifth annual Mayor's Cup game for the women. RPI holds a 3-1 record all time including a win last year 2-0 over Union to reclaim the Mayor's Cup. The first Mayor's Cup match up came in 2017-2018. Every team that has won the Mayor's Cup has only needed two goals to do so. RPI has won 2-0, 2-1, 2-1; while Union has a 2-0 win under their belt.
Union's
Carmen Merlo is the only active Dutchwomen skater to find the back of the in the Mayor's Cup. The Dutchwomen's other scorers include;
Grace Heiting '22,
Katie Sonntag '22, and Katie Laughlin.
About the Dutchwomen:
- The Dutchwomen split the weekend series against Dartmouth and Harvard. Union dropped Friday's game to the Big Green by a score of 3-1,
Maren Friday scored Union's lone goal. Union followed up Friday's loss with a 3-1 come from behind win over the Crimson. Seniors
Carmen Merlo,
Emily King and first-year
Riley Walsh all scored in the game.
- First-year
Riley Walsh leads the team in goals (12) and points (18), while junior
Celeste Beaudoin is tied for the team lead in assists (11) with first-year
Stephanie Bourque. Sophomore
Sophie Matsoukas has appeared in all 26 games this season posting a 3.16 goals against average and a .908 save percentage this season.
About the Engineers:
- Rensselaer posted a 1-1 record over the weekend with a 2-1 loss against Harvard and a 2-1 win over Dartmouth. The Engineers lead Union by 1 point in the ECAC standings (12.5 to 11.5). RPI has a 7-18-1 record overall with ECAC wins coming against Brown, St. Lawrence and Dartmouth.
- Junior Ellie Kasier leads the team in goals (8), assists (9), and points (17). Senior Amanda Rampado had appeared and started in all 26 games this season for RPI, she has posted a 2.15 goals against average and a .928 save percentage this season.
Historically Speaking:
- The Dutchwomen are 7-33-5 all time against RPI. Union is averaging 1.44 goals against the Engineers.
Last Time We Met:
- Union was victorious the last time these teams met. RPI found the back of the net early in the first period on the power-play. Walsh scored to tie the game for Union and later won the game in overtime for Union, by a final score of 2-1.
Record Watch:
- Union earned their 11th win of the season on Saturday against Harvard, which tied the program's all-time single season wins record of 11. In the process of that win, Head Coach
Josh Sciba became the program's all-time winningest coach, as he passed Claudia Asano Barcomb with his 37th win.
- Sophomore
Sophie Matsoukas earned her 11th win of the season, which extended her single season wins record. Matsoukas has 14 total wins in her first two seasons which positions her in second on the career wins list.
- Senior
Emily King scored her fourth game winning goal of the season, which tied her with
Riley Walsh, Cheyenne Harris '20 and Molly Flanagan for the most game winning goals in a single season for Union.
Program Firsts:
- This past weekend's win over #15/T14 Princeton was Union's first ever win over a collegiate opponent. The Dutchwomen beat the Tigers 4-1 as Matsoukas made 56 saves in the win. Union won its first game over UNH in program history has well in its first game of the season. Earlier this season Union topped Boston University 3-1, which was the program's first win over the Terriers.
Riley Walsh has also added some first's for Union this season. She is the first skater to win three rookie of the week honors. Walsh was also the first Union skater to win three games in overtime in the same month as well for Union. Union posted their first series win over Harvard in their program's history, posting a 1-0-1 record against the Crimson this season.
Riley Walsh Chronicles:
- Walsh has been Union's stand out first-year this season. She has won three ECAC Rookie of the Week awards, while also winning ECAC Rookie of the Month (November) and HCA National Rookie of the Month (November). Walsh has three game winning goals in the month of November, with all of them coming in overtime. She was the first Union skater since 2006 to score both a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal in the same game. Walsh is also leading the team in goals with 10 goals through her first 19 games. She had five multi-point games this season.
ECAC Awards:
-
Riley Walsh was named ECAC Rookie of the Week after scoring three goals in her first weekend series and helping Union to a 1-1 record over the weekend. Walsh scored twice in her collegiate debut, with goals coming on the power play and the shorthanded. She is the first player to do this for Union since 2006. She added her third goal of the season on Saturday afternoon against UNH.
- Senior
Emily King found the back of the net three times over the weekend and first-year
Stephanie Bourque tallied three helpers to help the Union College women's ice hockey team post a 1-1-0 record against the College of Holy Cross. King was named ECAC Hockey Forward of the Week and Bourque earned ECAC Hockey Defensive Player of the Week.
-
Riley Walsh earned her second ECAC Rookie of the Week honor for her five point weekend (1g, 4a) including the overtime goal in Union's 5-4 win over Dartmouth. Walsh becomes the first player in program history to win Rookie of the week multiple times.
-
Sophie Matsoukas was named ECAC MAC Goaltender of the Week with her performance against RIT. Following a 57 save weekend by Matsoukas in which she posted a .950 save percentage and 1.45 goals against average in Union's 2-0-0 weekend sweep against the Tigers of RIT
- Walsh earned her third ECAC Rookie of the Week honor this past weekend for her performance against RPI, with a two-goal effort including the game winning goal on Tuesday evening in a 2-1 win. Walsh is the Union's first ever three-time Rookie of the Week winner.
- Walsh was named ECAC Rookie of the Month (November). She posted a four goals and four assists for eight points, while also scoring three overtime winning goals as Union went 4-0-1 in that span. She is the first Rookie of the Month, since teammate
Sophie Matsoukas was both Goalie of the Month and Rookie of the Month in December last season.
- Bourque earned her second ECAC honor after her four point game that included a goal and three assists. Bourque also scored her first collegiate goal in the game while factoring in on all four Union power-play goals in their 6-1 win over St. Michael's.
Captains:
- Senior
Emily King will serve as the lone captain for Union, while
Allison Smith,
Meredith Killian, and
Celeste Beaudoin will all serve as assistant captains for the upcoming season.
U.S. National Team Assistant Coach Josh Sciba:
- Union College head women's hockey coach
Josh Sciba served as an assistant coach for the 2022 U.S. Women's National Team. The United States returned home from the 2022 IIHF Women's Hockey World Championships with a Silver Medal, following a 2-1 loss to Canada in the gold medal game.
- Sciba will get back behind the bench again in November for a three game Rival Series against Team Canada. Sciba will also be with the team in December for another two game Rival Series against Team Canada.
