About Union
Union opens up their 2023-24 home slate at Messa Rink this weekend, welcoming in Robert Morris on Friday and Saturday. The Garnet Chargers kicked off their season this past weekend with a trip to Minnesota, taking on #13 St. Cloud State, a series in which they went 0-2. For the second consecutive year,
Riley Walsh scored Union's first goal of the season on the power play, before the Garnet Chargers were shut out on Saturday.Â
About Robert Morris
RMU hockey returns in 2023-24 after the men's and women's programs were discontinued in May 2021. Soon after, RMU teamed up with the Pittsburgh College Hockey Foundation, a group of RMU alumni players & RMU hockey supporters to fundraise back the programs, and on December 17th, 2021, after a massive fundraising effort, it was announced the programs would be reinstated for the 2023-24 season.
The Matchup
The weekend's contests will be the seventh and eighth between the teams, and Friday's match will be the first in four years and a day. The two sides tied in their first meeting on January 14th, 2006, before Union took the first victory by a score of 3-2 the next day. Robert Morris has won four straight since.
Behind the Garnet
Union opened their 2023-24 season with a challenging task, going to Minnesota to take on 13th ranked St. Cloud State.
Riley Walsh was the lone goalscorer for Union, picking up where she left off a year ago when she scored 15 goals, the third-highest mark in a single season in program history and second-most in DI history.
Returning starting goalie
Sophie Matsoukas stopped 30 of the shots she faced to open the season on Saturday before first year
Monja Wagner stopped 34 in her debut Sunday.
The series with RMU is just one of two non-conference home weekends for Union in 2023-24.
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 and
Olivia Soares andÂ
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.Â
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 over of 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.
Scouting the Colonials
Robert Morris Men's and Women's Hockey returns in 2023-24 after the programs were discontinued in May of 2021. A group of alumni immediately began working towards the reinstatement of the programs, and within seven months, the University announced the programs would be reinstated for the 2023-24 season.
In February 2022, Logan Bittle, a member of the RMU class of 2008 and former decade long assistant with the women's hockey program, was tabbed to be the next Head Coach. RMU was reinstated to College Hockey America one month later, and the Colonials have continued on the journey back ever since.
RMU's roster contains 24 players, including nine freshmen and 10 transfers brought in this summer. RMU had five players rostered last year, working to prepare for the 23-24 season. Allyson Hebert, Wasyn Rice, Chace Sperling, and Gillian Thompson are the only four players on this year's roster from RMU's last season of competition.
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.
