Dartmouth at Union

Friday, January 19, 2024 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink • 6:00 PM (ET)

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Union Game Notes  • Dartmouth Game Notes

About Union
After a solid start to the new year that saw Union pick up their second ever win over a ranked opponent and match the program's best win and unbeaten streaks, the Garnet Chargers' offense sputtered this past weekend in the team's trip to the North Country, where they were shutout by #10 St. Lawrence and #4 Clarkson. Union fought for much of both games, but a pair of second period goals in a frame where Union outshot SLU by half a dozen and a perfect special teams (2-2 power play and 3/3 penalty kill) game by Clarkson did the Garnet Chargers in this past weekend.

About Dartmouth
After struggling for much of the early part of the year, the Big Green have seemingly turned the corner in the last month-plus, as Dartmouth has gone 2-3-1 in their last six games with a trio of competitive losses. Dartmouth's performance since December 6th includes big wins over Post and New Hampshire, close losses to RV Maine and #6 Quinnipiac, and a tie with #11 Princeton.

The Matchup
Thanks to Emily King's game-tying third period goal, Union and Dartmouth played to a 1-1 tie in their matchup October 21st as part of Union's most successful conference opening weekend since 2017.

Bigger Than A Game
Tonight's game is the program's annual "Pink The Rink" game. Union will be hosting a number of initiatives on the evening, as the program will be raising funds for the American Cancer Society in the battle against cancer. Union will be wearing special edition pink jerseys for the contest, and fans participating in a raffle will have the opportunity to win a previous edition of the team's pink jersey. The program has also created special "I Skate For" placards for those in attendance to fill out to support those in the fight, and Union has dedicated the game to Carolyn Jones, mother of junior Maya Jones, who is currently courageously battling breast cancer. 

Union's home game against St. Lawrence was the program's Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Game. The initiative was 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 raised awareness about the lung and digestive tract disease, took donations for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and wore purple ribbon stickers on their helmets and used purple tape to support those in the fight against CF. The program also welcomed Matsoukas's sister Zoe, who has cystic fibrosis, for a ceremonial puck drop. 

Milestone Watch
The 2023-24 season has seen a handful of changes to the Union record book, and a number of players are on the cusp of setting, or already have set, new benchmarks. Sophomore Riley Walsh was first to set a new feat, becoming the first player in Union's DI history to have multiple 20-point seasons with her two assists in the win over Saint Michael's on New Year's Day. Junior Sophie Matsoukas followed in Union's next game by setting the program's new all-time wins record with the 21st of her career, while senior Emily King is one assist away from tying the program's all-time record of 37 and one power-play goal from equaling the program's all-time record of 10.

Happy New Year!
Union began 2024 in a big way on New Year's Day, defeating Saint Michael's by a score of 6-0 in a game where the milestones were aplenty for Union. The offense was led by first-year Emma Fulawka, who scored her first collegiate hat trick. Senior Kaitlyn Ehmann added her first collegiate goal, and first-year Megan Ognibene registered her first collegiate point. In Union's net, Sophie Matsoukas scored her 20th career win, moving her into a tie for the program record. The six goals were the team's most in 364 days, when they also notched six against Saint Michael's January 2nd, 2023.

Union went on to win their next game against #15 Penn State, picking up their second ever win over a ranked opponent. First-year Maddie Leaney's winner 66 seconds into overtime clinched the historic victory after senior Emily King tied the game at one, and junior Sophie Matsoukas, who broke the program's all-time wins record with the win, backstopped Union with 34 saves. The win also matched the program's longest winning streak (four) and unbeaten streak (4-0-1) in team history that was first achieved in December 2022.

Got Enough Hats?
Sophomore Riley Walsh and first-year Maddie Leaney each scored hat tricks against Holy Cross, 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), before Leaney's achievement the next night gave Union hat tricks in consecutive games for the first time in program history. First-year Emma Fulawka scored a hat trick of her own Janaury 1st at Saint Michael's, and the program has now had as many hat tricks this season as they had the previous 19 years combined.

On The National Stage
Head Coach Josh Sciba missed Union's trip to Yale and Brown and spent part of the holiday break with Team USA, as the Garnet Chargers leader was with the U.S. Women's National Team for the first four games of the 2023-24 Rivalry Series against Canada. Sciba, who is an Assistant Coach on Head Coach John Wroblewski's staff, has served with the Women's National Team since the 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship after serving as an assistant for the 2018 Under-18 Series vs. Canada and the 2019 and 2020 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championships. The Rivalry Series resumes in February, when the two countries meet for the final three games of the 2023-24 series.

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. Leaney led all ECACH first-years with five goals and eight points through the first month plus, which was 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 in a big way, returning to Schenectady from their conference-opening 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.

Season Of Firsts
Union has seen a number of players achieve their first collegiate milestones in 2023-24. First-years Kendal Davidson, Emma Fulawka, Maddie Leaney, Iliana Smith, and Megan Ognibene have all registered their first collegiate points, while Fulawka and Leaney have also registered their first collegiate goals and hat tricks. 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 Davidson, Iliana Smith, Allison Smith, Kaitlyn Ehmann, and Ella Chiarelli.

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, first-year 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. 

First-year Maddie Leaney was honored the next week, as the first-year picked up ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors after her hat trick that included the overtime winner in that 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.

Junior Sophie Matsoukas was the next Garnet Charger to pick up a weekly award, after Leaney also garnered ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month honors to wrap up October, being selected as the ECAC Hockey MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Week December 12th. The selection followed Matsoukas' 53-save weekend in Union's weekend sweep of crosstown rival Rensselaer, her third career Goalie of the Week honor.

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. Later in the season, King 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 history 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 up a career-high four points off a goal and three assists in the home-opener against Robert Morris. Walsh also had a team-high six shots and finished the game tied for a team-best +2 rating. 

Scouting the Big Green
After Dartmouth started the year 2-0 for the first time since 2014, the Big Green couldn't get all the way back to their winning ways for nearly the next two months, going 0-11-1 and losing five games by two or less. Dartmouth got over the hump December 6th with a win over Post, and since has picked up a shutout win over UNH and played a competitive weekend against #11 Princeton and #6 Quinnipiac.

Dartmouth has seen their top six leading point-getters in 2023-24 set new career highs in an offense that has scored nearly a goal per game more than they did a year ago. Senior Jenna Donohue leads the way with 19 points, and has put her name on the scoresheet in five of the last six games. Junior Kenzie Bachelor has more than doubled her point toal with 17 this season, and the Big Green's two leading goal scorers- sophomores Shae Messner and Cally Dixon- have each exploded with seven goals each after combining to score just two last season.

While improving their offense, Dartmouth has had to sacrifice some of their defense. The Big Green are allowing one goal per game more than they allowed in 2022-23, relying on first-year Eleanor Rogers to navigate the adjustment to collegiate hockey with 18 of the 20 starts in Dartmouth's net. Rogers currently owns a .851 save percentage and 4.37 goals against average, with her best game of the season coming in Dartmouth's previous meeting with Union, where she stopped 35 of 36 shots.

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.