AT HOME: The Union College women's hockey team returns home against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in a conference match up at Messa Rink on Friday night at 6:00 pm before facing off against the Engineers in the annual Capitol District Mayor's Cup at MVP Arena in Albany, New York at 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon.
LAST WEEKEND: Union fell to Dartmouth College, 2-1, Friday night at Thompson Arena before taking a 3-2 thrilling overtime victory against Harvard University Saturday afternoon at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. On Friday night,
Karianne Engelbert netted her third power play goal of the season. Junior
Stephanie Bourque and senior
Paige Greco assisted on the goal. On Saturday afternoon, sophomore
Emma Fulawka opened the scoring for the Garnet Chargers shortly followed by first-year
Jill Willis's goal. Two minutes into overtime, Bourque netted the game winning goal lifting women's hockey to their all time best sixth conference victory of the season.
ABOUT THE ENGINEERS: RPI skated to a 3-1 victory over Harvard University Friday night at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center before tying Dartmouth College, 0-0, on Saturday afternoon with Dartmouth taking the shoot out victory (1-0) at Thompson Arena. Natalie Tuchkinsky and Ellie Kaiser each recorded one goal and one assist while Nina Christof registered a goal in the win for the Engineers against Harvard. On Saturday, Reese Keating made 22 saves between the pipes to record a 1.000 SV% versus Dartmouth.
ALL-MESSA RINK FAN VOTING: All season long, Union fans can cast their vote for the best players in Union women's hockey history (both Division I and III) at all home games this season or by voting online at
UnionAthletics.com/AllMessaTeams.The All-Messa Teams will be announced and recognized on the team's annual Alumnae Day on Saturday, February 8.
WELCOMING BACK ALUMNAE: Women's Hockey welcomes back the first women's hockey varsity team, the 1999-2000 team, and the first women's hockey D1 team, the 2003-04 team, for Friday night's conference game against RPI. The reception for women returning to campus will be held prior to Friday night's game and the alumnae game will take place on Saturday at 12:15 pm at Messa Rink prior to Mayor's Cup at 3:00 pm at MVP Arena.
BOURQUE BURIES: Junior
Stephanie Bourque scored her first career game-winning goal in Saturday's 3-2 overtime victory against Harvard University, earning her ECAC Hockey Defensive Player of the Week honors, announced on Jan. 21. This marks her second honor of the season, as she was also named Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 8. Bourque has also contributed two key goals this season, including the game-tying goal against RIT Tigers on Oct. 5, which helped lift the team to overtime, and the game-tying goal in the 2-1 victory over Dartmouth College on Oct. 26. Over the past three seasons, Bourque has registered 12 goals and 27 assists for 39 points in 95 career games played.
DYNAMIC DUO: With Fulawka's goal against the Dartmouth College, she and Blomquist have combined for eight points, with Blomquist assisting on both of Fulawka's goals this season, including Saturday's. Fulawka has also been the primary assist on two of Blomquist's three goals this season, including the goal that opened the scoring for Union in the 3-2 overtime victory over RPI Engineers on Nov. 26. Blomquist opened the scoring for a second consecutive game with Fulawka providing the primary assist in the 2-2 tie against #11 St. Cloud State University on Nov. 29. Additionally, Blomquist scored her first career goal to open the scoring in a 3-2 loss to #5 Colgate University on Nov. 2.
GRECO'S GREATNESS: Senior
Paige Greco registered a multi-point weekend, recording an assist in Friday's game against Dartmouth College and an assist in Saturday's 3-2 overtime win against Harvard University. This marks the second time this season Greco has extended her point streak to two games. The last time, she scored the game-winning goal in the overtime victory against RPI on Nov. 26 and a goal in the next game against #11 St. Cloud State on Nov. 29. Greco also extended her point streak to three games for the first time in her career, scoring a goal in the win over #6 Cornell University on Nov. 1, then adding an assist on Nov. 2 against #5 Colgate University and #9 Clarkson University on Nov. 8.
TGIF (Top Goalscorer is Friday): With an assist on Saturday, Jan. 4 against #13 Princeton University, senior
Maren Friday has 16 goals and 28 assists for 44 points which ranks second in career points amongst defensemen, only behind Cheyenne Harris '20 (49 points). Currently, Friday is the all-time leading goal scorer amongst all blueliners in D1 program history breaking a tie with Harris and Megan Ryan '20, netting her 13th goal of her career on Sept. 27 at Robert Morris.
A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH: For the first time in program history, Union's penalty kill had been ranked in the Top 10 at the D1 level, at 6th & 7th since the Yale/Brown games on Dec. 6-7. Heading into the Saturday, Jan. 4 game versus #13 Princeton, the Tigers boasted the top power play in the nation, and Union's penalty kill ranked at 7th. Union killed off four power plays prevented #13 Princeton from converting on any - pushing Tigers' power play percentage to second place in the nation. Union's penalty kill percentage has only ranked in the Top 20 in two previous seasons: 19th in 2014-15 and 17th in 2018-19. Over the last 20 years, the average penalty kill percentage ranking has been 30th.
UNCHARTED TERRITORY: With the victory over #6 Cornell on Nov. 1, Union improved to 3-0-0 in ECAC Hockey play for the first time in program history and also won three straight conference games for the first time as a Division I program. Union's previous best conference start came in 2017-18, when the squad started off with three wins in its first six ECAC Hockey games.
TOP-10 TRIUMPH: The win over #9 Cornell marked the first time that Union had ever defeated a team ranked in the top-10 nationally. The Garnet Chargers have now beaten a nationally ranked squad in three straight seasons, following last year's 2-1 (OT) win at #15 Penn State and a 4-1 triumph over #15 Princeton on December 3, 2022. Union is in the midst of a stretch that sees 10-of-14 opponents with current national rankings, including last weekend.
SOPHIE'S SHUTOUTS: Senior goaltender
Sophie Matsoukas recorded her fifth career shutout by stopping all 24 shots she faced in a victory over Harvard on Oct. 25. She is one shutout away from tying the all-time record of six held by Shenae Lundberg '15.
LEANEY LEADS: After scoring two goals on Oct. 12 versus Penn State, sophomore
Maddie Leaney became Union's active goal-scoring leader and moved into 14th place all-time in goals (15). Leaney passed senior
Maren Friday, who recorded her 14th career goal on Sept. 27 versus Robert Morris.
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. She also moved into second place all-time in career saves (2,720) after stopping 27 shots against RIT on Oct. 4. Matsoukas ranks behind Shenae Lundberg '15 who has 3,023 career saves.
GOING STREAKING: Senior
Emma Hebert enters the weekend having played in all 129 games during her Union career. Junior
Stephanie Bourque (95 games) and sophomore
Maddie Leaney (61 games) also are currently riding games-played streaks, having played in every game of their three- and two-year careers, respectively.
CAREER FIRSTS: First-years
Karianne Engelbert and Klara Kenttälä both recorded their first collegiate points in the season-opening weekend at Robert Morris, with Kenttälä earning the primary assist on Engelbert's first-period tally in September 28's 4-2 win.
CHARGED UP POWER PLAY: Union went 4-for-9 on the power play against Robert Morris to start the season, 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.
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.
ANCHORING THE BLUELINE: Union returns 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.
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.
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 in Potsdam, 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: Joining Maci is 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.
