The Union College women's hockey team wraps up the 2022-23 season this weekend as they host #3 Colgate and #14 Cornell on Friday and Saturday from Messa Rink. Union will celebrate seniors
Olivia Groulx,
Carmen Merlo, and
Emily King after Saturday's game against Cornell.
About Union:
- Union will head into the final weekend of the season with match-ups against #3 Colgate and #14 Cornell. Union sits in the 11th spots with 12.5 points. Union looks to bounce back from a weekend sweep from Princeton and Quinnipiac. On Friday, the women were able to tie the game in the final five minutes of the game before falling in overtime. Union also held Quinnipiac to a 1-1 score for 40 minutes before the Bobcats pulled away for a 5-1 win.
- First-year
Riley Walsh leads the team in goals (15) and in points (22), while junior
Celeste Beaudoin and first-year
Stephanie Bourque are tied for assists with 11 a piece. Sophomore
Sophie Matsoukas has appeared and started in all 32 games this season, posting a 3.24 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Matsoukas sits just 56 saves away from her first 1,000 save season of her career.
About #3 Colgate:
-The Raiders sit in second place in the ECAC Hockey standings with 50.5 points and just a point back of Yale for the top spot. They enter the final weekend on a four game winning streak and looking to extend as they face off against Union and RPI.
- Senior Danielle Serdachny is tied for the team lead in goals (19) and leads the team in assists (39) and 58 points. Junior Kristyna Kaltounkova also has 19 goals this season as well. Junior Kayle Osborne and sophomore Hannah Murphy has each appeared in at least 15 games. Osborne has started in 17 games and played in 19 games, posting a 1.42 goals against average and a .936 save percentage. Murphy has appeared in 15 games this season, posting with a 1.81 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
Historically Speaking:
- Union has never beaten the Raiders in 41 matchup's all-time. Colgate is 38-0-3 against Union, while losing their last 12 matchups. Union has found the back of the net once in their last four meetings.
Last Time We Met:
- Colgate beat Union 10-0, with four players scoring three plus points on the game.
About #14 Cornell:
- The Big Red sits in fifth place in the ECAC standing wih 33.5 points. Senior Gillis Frechette leads the team in goals (16) and points (43), while being tied with junior Izzy Daniel in assists with (27). Cornell has three goalies who have made appearances in goal. Fraser leads the team in goals against average with 2.52 and a save percentage of .882. Fraser is 7-2-1 with two shut outs this season.
Historically Speaking:
- Union has won one game all-time against the Big Red posting a 1-33-3 record. Union has lost it's last four games.
Last Time We Met:
- Union lost 7-2 earlier this season to the Big Red. Sophomore
Paige Greco and senior
Carmen Merlo scored in the game for Union.
Record Watch:
- Union earned their 11th win of the season on January 21st 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:
- Union's win over #15/T14 Princeton was Union's first ever win over a ranked 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 has five multi-point games this season. Walsh's 15 goals is the most goals scored by a rookie in the Division I era.
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.
