First Time At The Dance

MOORHEAD, Minn. (3/05/12)—No.10-ranked Concordia made program history on Monday morning as they were selected to play in their first-ever NCAA Tournament. The Cobbers will play at No.1-ranked Rochester Inst. of Technology on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the national playoffs.

The Cobbers earned their trip to the national playoffs by posting a 15-5-5 overall record. It marks the second straight season that Concordia has posted a school record 15 overall wins. Under second-year head coach Brett Bruininks the Cobbers have recorded 30 wins and participated in two straight MIAC playoff tournaments. Bruininks was named the MIAC Coach of the Year last week and has a 30-13-9 overall record at Concordia.

Concordia has a .717 winning percentage on the season but the two biggest numbers that helped push the Cobbers into the NCAA was their strength of schedule (SOS) and mark against ranked opponent percentage. CC's SOS was a solid .543 and the .686 winning percentage against ranked opponents was tops amongst teams vying for the three at-large bids. In addition, Concordia went 6-2-2 in their final 10 games before the national playoffs.

The Cobbers have five players with over 20 points on the season and are led by senior Katelyn Dold who has 11 goals and 21 assists for 32 points. She has scored at least 30 points in three consecutive seasons and has 122 career points. Sophomore Abby Taffe also broke the 30-point barrier on the season. She has 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points. Breann Julius led Concordia in goals with 20 and is tied for sixth in the nation in goals per game.

The Cobbers will face the top ranked team in the country when they square off against RIT. The Tigers are 21-1-1 on the season and won both the ECAC West regular-season and conference tournament championships. RIT has won 11 straight heading into the tournament and is making their third overall NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers advanced to the national title game last year before falling to Norwich 5-2.

RIT is out-scoring foes 136-26 in their last 11 games and feature the top penalty-killing unit in the nation at 94.6 percent (141-for-149). The Tigers are second nationally on the power-play, clicking at a 30.7 percent rate (43-for-140). RIT has 15 players with at least 10 points and five averaging at least a point per game.  Eight Tigers have at least 20 points.

The Tigers are led by sophomore forward Kourtney Kunichika leads the nation with 11 power-play goals and is tied for fourth nationally with 41 points, while Kolbee McCrea is fifth with 21 goals.  Junior defenseman Kristina Moss is second nationally with 27 assists, while Ariane Yokoyama is fourth with 25 assists.

Ali Binnington (0.95) and Laura Chamberlain (1.04) are first and third nationally in goals against average. Chamberlain is also second in save percentage with a .952 mark.