On Saturday, January 25, 2025, the women’s hockey team beat RPI 3-2 to win the Mayor’s Cup for the first time since 2020. The team also swept all of the season’s games against RPI for the first time in program history.
Before the cup game, the women’s team won both conference games against RPI. The team won 3-2 in overtime on November 26, 2024, and won 2-1 on January 24, 2025, the day before the Mayor’s Cup. Maren Friday ‘25 and Paige Greco ‘25 scored in the third period to secure the win for the Mayor’s Cup eve game. Last year, the team won both conference games against RPI but lost the Mayor’s Cup 0-1.
Going into the weekend, senior co-captains Maren Friday ‘25 and Emma Hebert ‘25 strategized how they would win the cup. “I think outworking them and winning puck battles [will allow us to win],” Friday remarked. “I think going into it, as long as we stay calm, collected and execute, we have nothing to worry about.”
Hebert concurred, saying the team needed to “Stick to our structure and kind of give it everything that we have. Take it game by game, which is what we’ve been doing and just continue to do the little things that we do right and play our game.”
This Mayor’s Cup game was also the first for Head Coach Tony Maci. Before Union, Maci spent eight years as an assistant coach for Clarkson’s women’s team, winning two national titles, going to four Frozen Four appearances, seven NCAA tournament appearances, and developing two Patty Kazmaier Award winners, the top award for women’s college hockey. Maci has been a critical piece of the success the team has seen this year.
“There’s an importance to this for sure. We always want to make sure we’re putting a good foot forward,” Maci remarked about the weekend’s upcoming games. “We want to make sure we take care of Friday and then Saturday comes along. Our game plan is not going to change too much from game to game. It’s just going to be a matter of when you get here, enjoy it. Take it in, especially those that haven’t been here before. Let the older players take the reins and show them how it’s done.”
President Harris and RPI President Martin Schmidt dropped the puck at 3 p.m. to begin the cup game. Union took charge early in the game, starting with a wrister goal from Klara Kenttälä ‘28 eight minutes into the first period. Teammates Stephanie Bourque ‘26 and Paige Greco ‘25 assisted Kenttälä on her third goal of the season. The Chargers capitalized on this lead with an unassisted goal from Bourque ten minutes later.
Halfway through the second period, Maddie Leaney ‘27 fired a one-timer to score the game-winning goal. Greco and Karianne Engelbert ‘28 assisted Leaney on earning her 20th point of the season.
RPI fought back as the game progressed, starting with their first goal with four minutes left in the second period. The team scored again with seven minutes left in the game, but they could not get a game-tying goal through goaltender Sophie Matsoukas ‘25. RPI pulled their goaltender with 2 minutes left in regulation but was no match for Matsoukas and the crowd of Union players in front of the net. The team celebrated on the ice for the first time in five years after the win.
“As a senior going into this as our last MVP Arena game, I think it’s incredibly meaningful for us to come out with the win here,” Friday remarked before the game.
The women’s team will go back on the road against Brown and Yale. The puck will drop at Brown on January 31, 2025 at 6 p.m., and at Yale on February 1, 2025 at 3 p.m. to continue conference play.
