Union vs. #5/#5 Clarkson

Friday, November 3, 2023 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink • 3:00 PM (ET)

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Union vs. #6/#9 St. Lawrence

Saturday, November 4, 2023 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink • 3:00 PM (ET)

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Union Game Notes • Clarkson Game Notes • St. Lawrence Game Notes

About Union
Union wraps up their second four-game homestand, their longest home stretch of the season, this weekend, welcoming #5 Clarkson and #6 St. Lawrence. Penalties hurt the Garnet Chargers in their losses to #9 Cornell and #3 Colgate this past weekend, allowing five combined power-play goals. First-year Maddie Leaney continued her strong start to her career with her fifth goal of the season in Friday's loss to Cornell, and was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month on Thursday.

About Clarkson
Clarkson is off to their best start in eight years in 2023-24, outscoring their opponents 32-9 en route to a 9-0-1 start. Clarkson defeated nationally ranked opponents Quinnipiac and Princeton this past weekend to open ECACH play after going undefeated in their season-opening non-conference slate for the first time since their National Championship 2017-18 season.

About St. Lawrence
The Saints are off to almost as good a start as their North Country counterpart, with their lone setback in their 8-1 record coming on October 13th at #12 Vermont. Since, St. Lawrence is 4-0, outscoring opponents 16-4, and is 3-0 against ranked opponents. SLU defeated #14 Princeton Friday, 7-2, and #5 Quinnipiac Saturday, 4-1, despite being outshot in both games.

Bigger Than A Game
Saturday's contest against St. Lawrence will be the program's Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Game. The initiative has been spearheaded by junior goaltender Sophie Matsoukas, whose sister has Cystic Fibrosis, and sophomore goaltender Emily Evans, whose father, aunt, and two cousins have the disease. The program will be raising awareness about the lung and digestive tract disease, and taking donations for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The initiative will be one of two by the program this season, with the annual Pink The Rink game coming later in the season.

Maddie's Month
Following an impressive first month of her collegiate hockey career, first-year Maddie Leaney was honored as the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month for the end of September/month of October, the league announced Thursday. Leaney currently leads all ECACH first-years with five goals and eight points, good for second and third, respectively, on the team. Leaney's start to her time in garnet was highlighted by her three-goal performance that included the overtime winner October 7th against Holy Cross. The Maple Ridge, British Columbia native was also selected as a Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) runner-up for their National Rookie of the Month.

Let's Get It Started In Here
Union kicked off their ECAC Hockey schedule two weekends ago in a big way, returning to Schenectady from their road trip with four and a half points, the most they've ever picked up on conference opening weekend. The Garnet Chargers defeated Harvard on Friday, 4-3, to win their ECAC Opener for the first time since 2017, on the backs of sophomore Amanda Quan, who picked up her first two points of the season on a goal and assist, and first-year Maddie Leaney, who recorded her second game-winner of the year with her first period power play goal. Senior Emily King's third period goal on Saturday at Dartmouth would make it a 1-1 game, and the two teams would play to a tie of that score to finish off a successful weekend for the Garnet Chargers.

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. 

100/50 = 13
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. King later picked up the 50th point of her career with an assist on first-year Maddie Leaney's goal on 10/27 against Cornell.

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 Golden Knights
Clarkson (9-0-1) is off to their best start since 2015-16, a year in which they won their first nine games and didn't suffer their first loss until their 13th game en route to a Frozen Four appearance. The Golden Knights are led by long time head coach Matt Desrosiers, who has led the program to three national titles and three conference tournament championships.

The Golden Knights sport the nation's 11th best offense at over three goals a game, led by upperclasswomen Anne Cherkowski, Darcie Lappan, Haley Winn and Dominique Petrie, all with nine points each. Petrie missed last season due to an injury after transferring in from ECACH rival Harvard, while the other three were top-six in points for a 29-win Clarkson team that went back to the NCAA Tournament, it's ninth consecutive not including the two seasons affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Clarkson has been even better defensively, allowing less than one goal per game. Their second-ranked defense sits just behind St. Cloud State, who Union opened the season with. The quartet of goaltenders who saw time in net for the Knights in 2022-23 all return this season, with senior Michelle Pasiechnyk starting eight of the ten games. Pasiechnyk is currently top-eight in the nation in both goals against average (0.96) and save percentage (.944).

Scouting the Saints
St. Lawrence (8-1-0) is off to their best start since 2016-17, the most successful season of the Chris Wells Era, when the program won 26 games and last made the NCAA Tournament. The Saints have already almost halved their win total from a season ago (17), and secured five wins over nationally ranked opponents in the first month of the season.

The nation's fifth-best scoring offense, north of four goals a game, is led by 2022-23 Second Team All-ECAC Forward Julia Gosling, who is seventh in the nation with 15 points. Junior Abby Hustler is just two points behind her with 13 of her own, while fellow upperclasswomen Sarah Marchand and Anna Segedi are also averaging over a point per game. 18 different skaters have found the scoresheet for the Saints in the early part of their 2023-24 campaign.

After last year's starting goalie Lucy Morgan transferred to Minnesota and fellow backup Caitlin Whitehead moved to Carleton University, sophomore Emma-Sofie Nordström has taken the reigns in net, starting all nine games for St. Lawrence this season. Nordström is top-16 in the nation in both goals against average (1.68) and save percentage (.938).

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.