About the Dutchwomen:
- Union opened the 2023 calendar year with a 6-1 win over St. Michael's College on Monday afternoon from Messa Rink. It was a historic game for Union as they set a new D-1 era win record with 10 wins for the first time ever. Junior
Celeste Beaudoin set a new program record for assists in a game when she dished out five assisted in the win. Union was also a perfect 4-4 on the power-play for the first time ever.
Sophie Matsoukas also set a new single season wins record with her 10th win of the season.
- First-year
Riley Walsh leads the team in goals with 11 and points with 17 points.
Celeste Beaudoin leads the team in assists with 11 assists. The Dutchwomen have six skaters with double digit points for the first time since 2019-20 when they had seven skaters reach double digit points. Sophomore
Sophie Matsoukas has appeared and started in all 20 games this season for Union, posting a 2.68 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.
About the #10 Big Red:
- Cornell hosts the Dutchwomen on Friday evening as they kick off ECAC play once again, The Big Red are coming off a weekend where they lost both games to #1 Ohio State 4-3 and 4-0. Cornell has a 5-2-1 record on conference play this season.
- Junior Izzy Daniel leads the team in goals (9) and points (23). Senior Gillis Frechette leads the team in assists with 15. Junior Deanna Fraser has appeared in 11 games this season and started in nine of them while posting a 2.81 goals against average and a .874 save percentage.
Historically Speaking :
- Union is 1-32-3 all time with the Big Red. Union has lost the last three meetings with Cornell by a combined score of 13-6.
Last Time We Met:
- The Big Red beat the Dutchwomen 5-3 from Ithaca last time these teams got together.
Carmen Merlo,
Emily King, and
Emma Hebert all scored for Union is the effort.
About the #6 Raiders:
- Colgate will host Union on Saturday after over a month in between games. The Raiders last played the Yale on December 3, and will welcome RPI on Friday evening before taking on Union on Saturday. The Raider's enter on a two game winning streak as they swept Brown and Yale back in December.
- Senior Danielle Serdachny and junior Kristnya Kaltounkova are tied for the team lead in goals with 12. Serdacnhy also leads the team in assists (21) and points (33). Junior Kayle Osborne has appeared in 11 games this season with a .926 save percentage and a 1.73 goals against average.
Historically Speaking :
- Union has never beaten Colgate in the 40 meetings between the teams.
Last Time We Met:
- Colgate beat Union 8-0 the last time the teams met in Hamilton, last season.
Record Watch:
- The Dutchwomen set the Division 1 era wins record with their 10th win of the season on Monday and are now two wins away from setting the program's all-time wins record (12).
- Individually their are a few records to keep tabs on. Sophomore
Sophie Matsoukas set the single season wins record with Union's 6-1 win over St. Michael's on Moday. Head Coach
Josh Sciba tied Head Coach Claudia Asano Barcomb (2007-16) on the all-time wins list with 36 and is now one win away from becoming the all-time winngest coach in program history.
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. 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.
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 inlcuded a goal and three assists. Bourque also scored her first collegaite goal in the game while factoring in on all four Union power-play goals in their 6-1 win iver 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.
