Final Score: Vermont 2, RIT, 1 | CatamounTV Highlights | Photo Gallery
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Dayna Colang and Victoria Andreakos scored third period goals 3:24 apart as the Catamounts rallied back to defeat RIT 2-1 Saturday evening at Gutterson Fieldhouse in non-conference action.
 
The Tigers opened the scoring 3:27 into the first period on a great individual effort from Lindsay Grigg. Grigg gathered the puck in the RIT zone and hit it off the boards past a Vermont defender to skate in on a two-on-one. Grigg faked out the Vermont defender and beat Madison Litchfield with a quick backhand for her second goal of the season.
 
The Catamounts were able to keep it a one-goal game in the second period thanks in large part to Litchfield's prowess while RIT was on the power play. She made five saves on two RIT power plays and Vermont entered the third period down a goal.
 
In the third period the Catamounts finally solved RIT goaltender Ali Binnington. On the power play Colang one-timed a feed from Amanda Drobot through a maze of traffic to score her second goal of the season. Amanda Pelkey registered the secondary assist on the goal at the 8:16 mark.
 
Just after another Catamount power play opportunity Pelkey assisted on Andreakos' go-ahead goal. Pelkey warded off a RIT defender by bouncing the puck off the end-boards, then again off the back of the net before feeding a pass to Andreakos who tapped it in for her first goal of the season. Andreakos' tally with 8:20 left in regulation would hold up as the winner after another successful penalty kill from Vermont.
 
Litchfield improved to 3-1-1 on the season making 20 saves for the Catamounts.
 
"Gritty effort by our team to comeback and beat a very hard working team," said head coach Jim Plumer. "Even though we were being outshot through the first half of the game I felt like we were getting quality chances, so it was great to finally breakthrough in the third. I was proud of the way we battled to the end. RIT plays hard and it's credit to our players that we were able to stay positive. I would love to see us build on it tomorrow."
 
The Catamounts and Tigers complete their two-game series tomorrow afternoon with a 2 p.m. faceoff at Gutterson Fieldhouse. A free live HD video stream with Rob Ryan on the call is available at CatamounTV.com.
 
Sunday is Youth Hockey Day and there will be a postgame kids conference presented by the DoubleTree in the Hockey Hall of Honor.
 
NOTES: Amanda Drobot and Amanda Pelkey assisted on both Vermont tallies … Pelkey and Dayna Colang now lead the team in scoring with five points … Bridget Baker won 9 of the 13 draws she took … Brittany Zuback led the team with five shots on goal … Katherine Pate led the team with three blocked shots … Vermont has outscored its opponents 8-2 in the third period this season.