Union vs. #9/#9 Cornell

Friday, October 27, 2023 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink • 6:00 PM (ET)

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Union vs. #3/#3 Colgate

Saturday, October 28, 2023 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink • 3:00 PM (ET)

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Union Game Notes • Cornell Game Notes • Colgate Game Notes

About Union
Union opens up the home portion of their ECAC Hockey schedule after their most successful opening weekend in their Division I history. Union kicked off the slate with a 3-1 victory at Harvard Friday for their first victory in their ECACH opener in six years, and their first victory in their ECACH road opener in program history. Paired with an additional point and a half from Saturday's draw at Dartmouth, and it was Union's most successful conference opening weekend in the DI era.

About Cornell
The Big Red are off to their best start since 2019-20, when they won their first five games and  ended up finishing #1 in the final rankings in a season halted by COVID. Cornell dismantled #13 Penn State in a weekend series to open their season before dominating Syracuse, and defeated Mercyhurst in their weekend finale this past Saturday after the two teams tied on Friday.

About Colgate
Colgate opened their season with four straight games against ranked opponents, and passed with flying colors. The Raiders defeated #2 Ohio State in the season opener, before falling to the Buckeyes in overtime the next afternoon. They responded with a sweep of #11 Penn State the following weekend, and did the same to Mercyhurst the weekend following.

Hats Off To You Two 
Sophomore Riley Walsh and first-year Maddie Leaney each scored hat tricks this past weekend, with their third goals to cap off their accomplishments going down as the overtime game-winners. Walsh, who had the first hat trick, gave Union their first three-goal game in almost 10 years (Jessica Kaminsky on November 16th, 2013 at Yale). Leaney's achievement the next night gave Union hat tricks in consecutive games for the first time ever. 

Season Of Firsts 
Eight games into the season, Union has seen a number of players already achieve their first collegiate milestones. First-years Emma Fulawka, Maddie Leaney, and Iliana Smith have all registered their first collegiate points, while Leaney has also registered her first goal and hat trick. Sophomore Riley Walsh also got her first career hat trick, and first-year Monja Wagner notched her first win. Also getting their first goals this season are first-years Kendal Davidson and Iliana Smith and senior Allison Smith. 

It's Her Honor 
After scoring her first collegiate goal and picking up an assist in Union's 5-2 home-opening victory over Robert Morris on 9/29, Kendal Davidson was named the ECAC Hockey Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending on October 1, 2023. The award is Davidson's first selection of her career. Davidson's nomination makes her the first Garnet Charger to be named Defensive Player of the Week since d-partner Stephanie Bourque was tabbed October 4th, 2022. 

Maddie Leaney picked up ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors this past week after her hat trick that included the overtime winner in Saturday's win over Holy Cross. The award is Leaney's first selection of her career and Union's first Rookie of the Week selection since now-sophomore Stephanie Bourque was selected this past January 5th. 

Keeping It 100 
In Union's 9/30 contest with Robert Morris, senior Emily King played in her 100th collegiate game. The captain celebrated the milestone in eloquent fashion, scoring a goal and going 20-29 from the faceoff dot in her landmark contest. 

Have A (Career) Night 
Riley Walsh picked up where she left off after one of the best seasons in program histroy in 2022-23. After scoring Union's first goal of the season for the second straight year in the season opener at St. Cloud State, the sophomore put a career-high four points off a goal and three assists in the home-opener against Robert Morris. Walsh also put up a team-high six shots and finished the game tied for a team-best a +2 rating. 

Scouting the Big Red 
Cornell is off to their best start, 4-0-1, in four years, a year in which they finished #1 in the final rankings with championship hopes that were dashed by COVID. The Big Red are looking to get back to the place the program was pre-pandemic, reaching the National Quarterfinals as recently as 2017 and National Semifinals in 2019, under long time head coach and 1991 alum Doug Derraugh.

While the program did see reigning ECAC Hockey Player of the Year Gillis Frechette graduate, they did return her linemates. Senior Izzy Daniel put up an identical year a season ago as Frechette- 18 goals and 30 assists for 48 points- while Junior Lily Delianedis wasn't far behind in third with 27 points (11 goals and 16 assists) of her own. Daniel has picked up where she left off, leading the squad with 13 points, good for eighth in the nation, while holding the reign as two-time defending ECAC Hockey Player of the Week.

Returning to anchor the Big Red defense are Team USA gold medalist and team captain Rory Guliday and fellow captain Ashley Messier, as well as 2022-23 All-ECAC Hockey Rookie Team selections Grace Dwyer and Alyssa Regalado. Freshman Annelies Bergmann has seen the bulk of the time in net for Cornell so far this season, stopping shots at .917 clip while allowing just 1.72 goals a game, both top-30 in the country.

Scouting the Raiders
While Cornell looks to get back to where they were pre-COVID, Colgate looks to continue to build off the success they've had post-pandemic. The Raiders won 30 games in 2021-22 before winning 32 games a season ago, just two wins shy of the program record they set in 2017-18, when they made it to the National Title game. 

The three-time defending ECAC Hockey champions Raiders wasted no time showing why they were the unanimous preseason favorite, splitting an opening weekend set with #2 Ohio State before sweeping #11 Penn State and picking another win and a tie against Mercyhurst, a team currently receiving votes in the polls.

Colgate returns their top-eight leaders in points from last season, including fifth-year Danielle Serdachny, who set a new school record with 71 points last season en route to becoming Colgate's all-time leading scorer, and senior Kristýna Kaltounková, who registered the second-most points in a season with 57. Roles have been reserved this year, as Kaltounková leads with 14 points while Serdachny follows in second with 11.

On Garnet Alert 
2023-24 is set to be a year that provides many changes to the Garnet Chargers record books. Senior Emily King already has her fingerprints all over it, and will look to continue to rise up the ranks. Junior Sophie Matsoukas also sees her name in the books, and Sophomore Riley Walsh is set to enter her name in multiple categories. 

Leading The Way 
The winningest coach in Union Women's Hockey program history, Josh Sciba, returns for his eighth season behind the Garnet Chargers bench in 2023-24. Union will look to build off their 11 wins from 2022-23, the most in the program's Division 1 history. 

Here To Assist 
Joining Sciba behind the bench are Assistant Coaches Chris Ardito, Olivia Soares, and Lora Ardoin. Ardito commences his third season with the program in 2023- 24, while the current campaign with be Soares's second with Union. Ardoin joins the staff for her first season with the program. 

New Blood 
For the third straight year, Sciba and his staff have brought in eight student-athletes as their recruiting class. The Class of 2027 traverses three countries, three Canadian provinces, and four states, and includes four forwards, three blueliners, and one goaltender. 

O-Zone Experience 
Union returns 19 players from a season ago, including their seven highest leading point scorers. Sophomore Riley Walsh tallied team-highs with 15 goals and 22 points in her first year at Union, good for third- and seventh-most in a single season in program history, while senior Emily King, who's 41 points are good for 10th most in Union's Division 1 era, returns for one last ride. 

Anchoring the Blueline 
Also apart of those 19 returnees are four blueliners that appeared in every game a season ago- Stephanie Bourque, Emma Hebert, Meredith Killian, and Allison Smith- and Union's starting- and second-winningest all-time- goaltender, Sophie Matsoukas. 

Charging Forward 
Union's teams will be playing with a new name this season, as the College rebranded to the Garnet Chargers in August. The Garnet Chargers nickname was selected from a field of over 400 names submitted, and references the school's official color of over 150 years, Garnet, and Schenectady's legacy as a hub for electrical innovation and invention. Union also added a new "U" logo as part of the rebrand.

Captaining the Ship 
2022-23 Captain Emily King returns for her second season wearing the "C" for the Garnet Chargers, and her three Assistant Captains a season ago- Celeste Beaudoin, Meredith Killian, and Allison Smith- have all been elevated to Captain for 2023-24. 

Shock Warning 
Union was picked to finish 12th in the ECAC Hockey preseason coaches poll after their finish in that position last year. The Garnet Chargers will look to build off their 11 wins from last season to surprise in 2023-24.