Union vs. RIT

Friday, October 4, 2024 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink at Achilles Center • 6:00 PM

Live Stats • Video Stream

Union vs. RIT

Saturday, October 5, 2024 • Schenectady, N.Y. • Messa Rink at Achilles Center • 4:00 PM

Live Stats • Video Stream

Game Preview

Union Game Notes • RIT Game Notes

THE LAST FIRST TIME: The final season of hockey at Messa Rink at Achilles Center begins this weekend, when Union hosts RIT for a pair of non-conference games on Friday night at 6 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

LAST WEEKEND: Union started the 2024-25 season with a split of two games at Robert Morris outside of Pittsburgh. Senior Maren Friday scored the lone goal of Friday's 3-1 loss to become Union's all-time leader in goals by a blueliner, and then came back with a goal and an assist the next day in a 4-2 victory. Junior Mallory Mauracher and first-year Karianne Engelbert scored their first goals in garnet and junior Stephanie Bourque netted her first of the year as part of the win, while Sophie Matsoukas made 45 saves on the weekend.

ABOUT RIT: RIT started its season with a pair of wins over Assumption last weekend, beating the Greyhounds by the scores of 3-0 and 5-0 in Rochester. Ireland Stein scored a pair of goals to earn AHA Rookie of the Week honors and Addie Alvarez also scored twice while Kylie Aquaro and Jesse Burks both chipped in a goal and two assists each for the Tigers, who outshot Assumption 76-22 in the two contests. 

TGIF (Top Goalscorer Is Friday)
With her first goal of the season and 13th of her career on Friday at Robert Morris, senior Maren Friday became the all-time leading goal scorer among blueliners in program D-I history, breaking a tie with with Cheyenne Harris '20 and Megan Ryan '20. Her three-point weekend also moved her into third place in career points among defensemen with 35, behind only Harris (49 points) and Alex Tancrell-Fontaine '15 (42 points).

Career Firsts
First-years Karianne Engelbert and Klara Kenttälä both recorded their first collegiate points at Robert Morris, with Kenttälä earning the primary assist on Engelbert's first-period tally in Saturday's 4-2 win. 

Charged Up Power Play
Union went 4-for-9 on the power play against Robert Morris last weekend, led by two player-advantage goals by Maren Friday and one each from Karianne Engelbert and Stephanie Bourque. The three power-play goals on Saturday are the most for the team in a game since netting a program-record four in a 6-1 win over St. Michael's on January 2, 2023.

Adding to Her Total
Every win for senior netminder Sophie Matsoukas this season extends her own program career record after setting the program standard with her 21st victory in 2023-24. Next up in her record-book sights is career saves, with the senior entering the weekend only 29 stops away from moving past Lundy Day '09 into second place on the all-time list.

Going Streaking
Senior Emma Hebert enters the weekend having played in all 105 games during her Union career. Junior Stephanie Bourque (71 games) and sophomore Maddie Leaney (37 games) also are currently riding multi-year games-played streaks, having played in every game of their three- and two-year careers, respectively.

Oh Captains, Our Captains
Senior blueliners Maren Friday and Emma Hebert will wear the "C" on the sweater for Union this season, the first season with a letter for both players. Senior Sophie Matsoukas, junior Stephanie Bourque and sophomore Megan Ognibene will wear the "A" as assistant captains for the Garnet Chargers this season.

Someone to Lean On
Sophomore Maddie Leaney will look for more success after registering one of the most productive rookie seasons in program history in 2023-24, scoring 12 goals with seven assists for 19 points while playing in all 35 games as a first-year. Her 12 goals tied for third on the school's rookie goals list (and tied for second in the D-I era), while her 19 points were seventh-best all-time and third among D-I players at the school. Her 12 goals and three game-winning goals both ranked fourth all-time overall in the program's Division I record books.

Anchoring the Blueline
Union will return four top-six defensemen from last season. Seniors Maren Friday and Emma Hebert and junior Stephanie Bourque played in all 35 games last season, while sophomore Kendal Davidson played in 33 games. Sophomore Quinn Dunkle also brings a year of collegiate experience after appearing in 36-of-39 games for the University of Minnesota Duluth last season.

New Blood
Union welcomes six first-year players and four transfers to the program for the 2024-25 school year. The class is made up of student-athletes from three countries, two provinces and five states, and includes five forwards, four blueliners and one goaltender, all of whom will look to make an immediate impact on the program. This year's class is the largest incoming class for the program since 2017.

A New Leader
Tony Maci was named the fifth head coach in the history of Union women's hockey on July 31 and begins his first season behind the bench for the Garnet Chargers in 2024-25. Maci comes to Union from Clarkson University, spending the last eight years as the top assistant for Matt Desrosiers. During his time on the bench, the Golden Knights blossomed into a perennial title contender, winning a pair of Division I national championships in 2017 and 2018, reaching four Frozen Fours and making the NCAA Tournament seven times. A 2005 graduate of St. Lawrence University, he got his coaching start at Division III Adrian College for three years before one season at Princeton University.

Here To Assist
Along with Maci comes an entirely new set of assistant coaches as well. Shawn Skelly spent the last six years as the head women's hockey coach at Division III Adrian College, leading the Bulldogs to a 140-22-7 record, a pair of Frozen Four appearances, and four NCAA Tournament berths in five years. Tina Ciraulo worked with the USPHL's Metro Jets since 2020, including directing the Metro Jr. Jets girls program, and was the first woman to win a junior hockey game as head coach. Courtney Hall played four years at St. Cloud State University from 2019-23 and spent her graduate year at Robert Morris University in 2023-24, while also working the U18 National Women's Development Camp, as well as with the Detroit Little Caesars and Selects Hockey.

Preseason Predictions
Union will look to surprise the ECAC Hockey landscape in head coach Tony Maci's first season, as the Garnet Chargers were picked to finish 12th in the ECAC Hockey Preseason Poll. The team received 12 points, finishing five points behind Dartmouth College in 11th place and nine points behind Harvard University in 10th.

Goodbye to Messa Rink
The 2024-25 season will be the final one for Union men's and women's hockey at Messa Rink at Achilles Center, as the team prepares to move into the brand-new Mohawk Harbor Event Center across the street from campus for the 2025-26 season. The women's team enters 2024-25 having played 380 games in Messa Rink since the start of the program in 1999-00, including 335 contests since moving up to Division I in 2003-04.