Jan. 25, 2006

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GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University women's hockey team (8-12-4 overall, 0-1-1 CHA) travels to College Hockey America opponent Robert Morris (1-16-1, 0-2-0 CHA) for the first-ever series between the two squads this weekend, Jan. 27-28.

Both Friday's and Saturday's games are scheduled for a 7:35 p.m. start time.

Wayne State is coming off a series sweep of the Rensselaer Engineers last weekend at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum as part of a doubleheader with WSU men's hockey. The Warriors earned victories of 2-1 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday, handing RPI just its second and third losses of the season.

Robert Morris, in its inaugural season of women's hockey, was swept at Quinnipiac last weekend by scores of 4-3 and 4-2. This upcoming series against the Warriors is just the third home series this season for the upstart Colonials.

Wayne State is off from competition next weekend, but will meet CHA rival and sixth-ranked Mercyhurst in a home series, Feb. 10-11. Both games will be broadcast on the Internet via Teamline.

BEHIND THE BENCH
Jim Fetter is in his third season as Wayne State's head coach. He has a career record of 36-44-11 with the Warriors.

Interim head coach Jody Katz is 0-9-1 with the Colonials this season.

SERIES HISTORY
These two squads have never met prior to this weekend's series.

IN THE POLLS
Wayne State and Niagara were ranked in a tie for second in the preseason CHA coaches' poll. Robert Morris was ranked fourth.

ON THIS DATE
The Warriors have played twice on Jan. 27 in their history. They skated to a 1-1 overtime tie at Yale in 2000, and lost at second-ranked Northeastern, 8-2, the following season.

On Jan. 28, 2000, WSU was blanked 6-0 at Princeton.

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS
Much like the Warriors did in their inaugural campaign of 1999-00, the Colonials are experiencing some growing pains in their first year of women's hockey this season.

RMU's lone victory this season came at Vermont on Nov. 5, as the Colonials won 2-1 over the Catamounts. Since then, RMU is 0-11-1.

Robert Morris' roster is comprised entirely of freshmen. Kathryn Traynor is leading the offense with eight goals this season, all of which have come in her last 13 games. Morgan Beikirch has eight points, second only to Traynor (9).

Forward Jamie Ferrentino is the CHA Rookie of the Week, as she is coming off a three-point series at Quinnipiac last weekend. She scored her first career goal on Friday to give her team a 1-0 lead, and later assisted on a goal that tied the game at 2-2. Saturday, she netted a short-handed goal in the third period to cut RMU's deficit to 3-2.

Special teams have been a struggle for the Colonials this season, as they lead the nation with an average of 17.4 penalty minutes per game. Additionally, RMU has converted just one of 41 power-play opportunities in its last eight games.

Brianne McLaughlin has started the majority of the games between the pipes for Robert Morris. She has a 3.90 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage in 17 starts.

WARRIOR CAPTAIN
Jessica Snelgrove

WARRIOR ASSISTANT CAPTAINS
Ashley King, Peyton Patterson, Kristi Thome

NOTES
Sophomore Kristy Leng is the CHA Offensive Player of the Week after tallying four points in last weekend's series against Rensselaer. She scored her second goal of the season just 3:37 into Friday's 2-1 victory, and assisted on three of WSU's four second-period goals on Saturday as the Warriors rolled to a 4-2 victory.

Melissa Boal's 29 points rank second in the CHA behind Mercyhurst's Valerie Chouinard. She is tied for first in the league in assists (18) and power-play points (14), and ranks fifth among the nation's rookies with an average of 1.21 points per game.

Sam Poyton has tallied at least one goal in WSU's last nine series. She leads the CHA with 17 on the season.

Poyton has also proven to be very efficient with her scoring chances, as she ranks first in the league with a .266 shooting percentage.

Lindsay DiPietro's assist on Saturday gives her 20 points on the season. This marks the first time in school history that three players have recorded 20-plus points in a season.

WSU's freshmen are still producing the majority of the offense, as four rookies (Boal, Poyton, DiPietro, and Tina Vanderhoeven) account for 41 of the Warriors' 51 goals (80.4 percent) and 85 of the 134 points (63.4 percent).

Prior to Saturday, the last time Wayne State scored four goals in one period was Jan. 2, 2004, in an 8-1 victory over Union.

Junior Laura Monk has recorded a point in four straight games and five of the last six.

Sophomore Danielle Wilson's assist on Saturday broke a five-game pointless streak.

After not posting a single point in the first 10 series of the season, senior Rachael Benninger has an assist in each of the last two series.