Box Score

Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Robert Morris University women's ice hockey team earned a season opening series split with a 3-2 overtime victory over RPI this afternoon.

With 1:19 remaining in overtime, senior defenseman Kylie St. Louis (Windsor, Ontario / Southwest Wildcats) tucked in a shot that deflected off the crossbar and behind Engineers goaltender Kelly O'Brien. Junior forward Rebecca Vint (Caldeon, Ontario / Brampton Junior Thunder) earned her second assist of the contest on St. Louis' goal, and it was the senior's first score of the season.

Determined to shake off the result of last night's contest, RMU came out firing on all cylinders and had two first period goals to show for it. The first of the two would come from freshman forward Brittany Howard (St. Thomas, Ontario / Burlington Jr. Barracudas), as she collected a pass from classmate Maeve Garvey (Oakville, Ontario / Burlington Jr. Barracudas) and fired a slap-shot top shelf past O'Brien. Senior assistant captain Brandi Pollock (Virden, Manitoba / Westman Wildcats) was credited with the secondary assist.

After failing to capitalize on the team's first power play of the afternoon, the Colonials made sure their second attempt would hold a better result. RMU forced pressure in front of the net on the man advantage, and shots from Howard and Vint kept O'Brien on her toes. When Vint's shot ricocheted off O'Brien's padding, senior assistant captain Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) – who was playing in her 100^th career game – batted in the rebound to extend the Colonials lead to 2-0.

RMU almost made it 3-0 in the second period when RPI was on the power play. Vint collected the puck and had a breakaway opportunity against the Engineers goaltender, but her shot attempt found pipe.

After nearly 19 minutes of scoreless play in the third period, RPI would finally dent the scoreboard with 1:04 remaining. With O'Brien off the ice and St. Louis and senior captain Kristen Richards (Toronto, Ontario / Niagara University) in the box for respective checking and hooking calls, Kathryn Schilter buried the puck on the 6-on-3 advantage to bring the Engineers within one. Then just 39 seconds later, RPI would tie it up when Taylor Mahoney pushed it past freshman goaltender Jessica Dodds (London, Ontario / London Jr. Devilettes).

Dodds stopped the first shot of overtime and after freshman Rikki Meilleur (St. Adolphe, Manitoba / Shaftesbury Titans) had her attempt frozen by O'Brien, Colonial head coach Paul Colontino called a timeout. The timeout seemed to energize RMU as Vint won the faceoff, and eventually found St. Louis for the game-winner.

The Colonials held a 28-23 advantage in shots, and were 1-6 on the power play. The penalty kill unit wiped away seven of eight attempts, and Dodds – who was making her first career start – made 21 saves in the victory.

RMU improves to 1-1-0 and will travel to the North Star State next weekend to face Bemidji State.