About Union
Union heads on the road for their final road trip of the regular season after completing a five-game stretch in the Capital Region, their longest such streak of the season. After being named to the Hockey Commissioners Association Rookie of the Year Watch List on Thursday, first-year
Maddie Leaney scored her team-leading 10th goal of the season 54 seconds into Friday's game before sophomore
Riley Walsh brought herself back even with Leaney with her 10th in the second period.
About Colgate
Colgate returns home after suffering a weekend sweep for the first time since October 2021 this past weekend with their trip to the North Country, where they fell 3-1 to #4 Clarkson Friday and 3-2 to #8 St. Lawrence Saturday. Fifth-Year Danielle Serdachny had a hand in all three of Colgate's goals, scoring two, tying herself for the nationwide lead with 50 points.
About Cornell
Cornell faced a similar fate as Colgate when they faced SLU Friday, but responded strongly with a 3-0 win over Clarkson Saturday. Freshman Annelies Bergmann posted a 43-save shutout of the Golden Knights, by far the most single-game saves of her young career. Senior Izzy Daniel scored her 19th goal of the year in the win to tie Colgate's Serdachny for the nationwide points lead.
On The National Stage
Head Coach
Josh Sciba will miss this upcoming weekend's trip, as the Garnet Chargers leader is with the U.S. Women's National Team for the completion 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. Team USA currently holds a 3-1 lead in this year's rendition of the Series and will look to clinch the victory with one more win over the final three games that take place Wednesday, February 7th, through Sunday, February 11th.
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 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 before tying the program's single-season Division I points record with her goal at home against Brown for her 24th point tally of the year. Junior
Sophie Matsoukas followed by setting the program's new all-time wins record with the 21st of her career at #15 Penn State before surpassing 2,000 career saves in Union's loss to Harvard January 31st, and senior
Emily King tied the program's all-time assists record of 37 on first-year
Maddie Leaney's goal in Union's home contest against Brown and is one power-play goal from equaling the program's all-time record of 10.
Maren For Mandi
Junior
Maren Friday has been nominated as the program's representative for the prestigious Mandi Schwartz Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, ECAC Hockey announced Wednesday afternoon. The Award, which is named in honor of the late Mandi Schwartz, a Yale women's ice hockey alum who passed away in April 2011, honors the student-athlete in the league who best demonstrates excellence on the ice, in the classroom, and as a leader in the community. Friday, who was also nominated last year, has appeared in all 30 of Union's games so far in 2023-24 while carrying a perfect 4.0 GPA as a mechanical engineering major. Friday has also spent countless hours giving back to the local youth hockey association and as a leader in team initiatives in support of cancer and cystic fibrosis research.
Watch Out For Leaney
First Year
Maddie Leaney added another notch to an exceptional start to her Union career last Thursday, as the first-year was named to the Hockey Commissioners Association National Rookie of the Year Watch List, the HCA announced that afternoon. Leaney was one of 23 first-year NCAA players (nine from ECAC Hockey alone) tabbed to the list and made it consecutive years the program has seen their first two selections on the list after
Riley Walsh was selected last year. At the time of her selection, Leaney was currently tied- with Walsh- for the team lead in goals with nine, and was second on the team in points (16) and tied for fourth in assists (seven).
Bigger Than A Game
Union's recent contest against Dartmouth was Union's annual "Pink The Rink" game. Union hosted a number of initiatives on the evening, as the program raised funds for the American Cancer Society in the battle against cancer. Union wore special edition pink jerseys for the game, and fans participating in a raffle had the opportunity to win a previous edition of the team's pink jersey. The program also created special "I Skate For" placards for those in attendance to fill out to support those in the fight, and Union 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.
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.
Happy New Year!
Union began 2024 in a big way 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 continued their ceremonious beginning to the new year with a victory in their next game, a 2-1 win over #15 Penn State. First-year
Maddie Leaney's winner 66 seconds into overtime gave the program their second ever victory over a ranked opponent, and the win matched the program's longest winning and unbeaten streaks in program history.
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.Â
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.Â
Scouting the Raiders
Colgate (24-5-1) comes into the weekend facing an unusual circumstance, looking to break the streak of consecutive losses for the first time since October 2021. After rolling through much of their ECAC schedule with a 15-1-0 record in their first 16 conference games, the Raiders were swept on their North Country trip last weekend.
Colgate boasts arguably the best offense in college hockey this season, as the Raiders have the second best scoring offense (5.07 goals per game) and most goals (152), assists (275), and points (427) in all of Division I hockey- men's and women's- in 2023-24. Fifth-Year Danielle Serdachny (50 points) and senior Kristýna Kaltounková (49) are top-four in the nation in points and lead an offense that has 13 double-digit point scorers so far this season.
On the back end, the Raiders own a defense just as strong as their offense. Colgate's 1.30 goals allowed per game is third-best in the country, and the Raiders have not allowed more than three goals in a game at any point this season. The team save percentage of .943 is best in the ECAC while their 1.29 goals against average is second, and the longtime dominant duo of senior Kayle Osborne and junior Hannah Murphy have continued their strong play for a third consecutive season.
Scouting the Big Red
Doug Derraugh's squad is climbing back to the heights they achieved pre-pandemic, when they won a game in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and were set to return in 2020 after going 28-2-3 before the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID. Cornell won 14 and 16 games, respectively, the next two years, and have already surpassed that with 18 wins in 2023-24.
Senior Izzy Daniel has continued to elevate her offensive game, setting new career-highs in goals, assists and points each year to her current marks of 19-31-50 so far in 2023-24, each top-two in the ECAC and top-six in the country, with her 50 points tied with Colgate's Danielle Serdachny for the nationwide lead. Cornell's offense also owns three additional double-digit goalscorers and 10 more double-digit point-getters, led by junior Lily Delianedis with 13 goals and 16 assists for a career-best 29 points.
A potential missing piece for the Big Red in recent memory has been a solid goaltender, but reigning ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week Annelies Bergmann has filled the void. The Detroit, Michigan native is currently top-five in the ECAC in goals against average and save percentage during conference play, and owns a sub-two GAA and .920 save percentage in her 21 games in Cornell's net. Cornell is allowing over one goal per game less than they did a year ago (3.1 to 2.0).
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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 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
Union has looked to three alternate captains from 2022-23 to lead the way in 2023-24, as
Celeste Beaudoin,
Meredith Killian and
Allison Smith have each been elevated to Captain status for this season.
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.
