Pittsburgh, Pa. - Freshman Sara O'Malley (Guelph, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) became the first Colonial ever to score a hat-trick in their first season as the Robert Morris University women's ice hockey team defeated the Sacred Heart Pioneers, 8-2, at the RMU Island Sports Center Friday night.

O'Malley joins junior Kristen Miles (London, Ontario / London Devillettes) and junior Megan Picinic (Cliffside Park, N.J. / Princeton Tigerlillies) as the only members of the women's ice hockey team to accomplish the feat.

For the game, a total of five Colonials picked up multi-point performances as did junior Samantha Ullrich (St. Louis, Mo. / Team Illinois U-19) with two goals and one assist and junior Morgan Beikirch (Livonia, N.Y. / Buffalo Bison) with three assists.

Freshman Kylie Rossler (Regina, Saskatchewan / Regina Rebels) tallied two goals while classmate freshman Maria Stoa (Bloomington, Minn. / Eden Prairie) finished with two assists.

Robert Morris started the scoring early and often as they put away four goals in the first period. Rossler got the offense going, scoring the first goal :07 seconds into the game for the 1-0 lead. Miles and Picinic earned assists on the play.

Sophomore Jordan Riley (Hamilton, Ontario / Stoney Creek Sabres), with help from freshman Whitney Pappas (Evergreen, Co. / Belle Tire) and sister Jessica Riley (Hamilton, Ontario / Stoney Creek Sabres), extended the advantage to 2-0 at the 6:00 mark.

Sacred Heart closed the gap, 2-1, with a power-play goal from Kristina Hankins midway through the first period, but it would be too little as the Colonials answered the score with two more of their own from O'Malley and Ullrich, taking the, 4-1, lead into the first intermission.

Scores from O'Malley and Rossler would make up the second period, pushing the lead to five goals while keeping the visitors on ice.

Sacred Heart broke the scoring drought early in the third period with an even strength marker from Sarah Hickman at :37.

With the hefty lead in hand, RMU finished off the visitors with O'Malley picking up her third goal a little over three minutes in while Ullrich brought the curtain down with a score at the midway mark. Senior Maria Olausson (Copenhagen, Denmark / Danish National Team) picked up the helper on the final goal.

Robert Morris out-shot the visiting Pioneers, 40-17, while converting one-of-five power-play opportunities. Sacred Heart was one-of-six on the extra-man advantage.

Freshman Daneca Butterfield (Kronau, Saskatchewan / Notre Dame Hounds) made 15 saves en route to her first collegiate victory in goal.

The Colonials host Sacred Heart in game-two of the series tomorrow night at the RMUIslandSportsCenter. Face-off is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.