Erie, Pa. – Dec. 5, 2009 – The Robert Morris University Colonials were taken down by the No. 1 Mercyhurst Lakers, 6-2, on Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Colonials tallied the first goal of the contest, but Mercyhurst quickly escalated to a 4-1 lead by the end of the first period and never relinquished the advantage to win the game. Junior Sara O'Malley (Guelph, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) and sophomore Brianna Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / NCCP Raiders) scored the Colonials' two goals.

 The loss drops the Colonials to 5-11-1 overall and 0-4-1 in the CHA, while Mercyhurst improves to 13-1-1 and 4-0-1 in the CHA.

For the second straight contest Robert Morris scored the first goal of the contest. At 9:02 in the first period Delaney found O'Malley waiting in front of the net, who fired a shot past sophomore goalie Hillary Pattenden for the goal. Junior Maria Stoa (Bloomington, Minn. / Eden Prairie) recorded the extra helper on the play.

However, Mercyhurst scored three goals within the next four minutes to quickly take a two goal lead. At 9:27 junior Vicki Bendus won a face-off and sent the puck to sophomore Jess Jones, who found an opening past junior RMU goalie Daneca Butterfield (Kronau, Saskatchewan / Notre Dame Hounds) to knot the score 1-1. The assist by Bendus marked her 100th career point.

At 11:50 Mercyhurst's Jesse Scanzano was called for a hooking infraction, but the Lakers were still able to score two goals during the penalty kill and take a 3-1 advantage. Junior Ashley Cockell scored the first shorthanded goal at 12:42 off assists from junior Melissa Lacroix and senior Bailey Bram.

The Lakers scored their second shorthanded goal less than a minute later when senior Kelley Steadman lit the lamp off of Bram's second assist of the contest. At 2:05 in the second period the Colonials had two close-calls when O'Malley and Delaney took off on a breakaway and triggered off back-to-back shots. However, Pattenden made impressive saves on both plays to prevent the score. In a turn of events, Mercyhurst found itself with a scoring opportunity at 2:28 and converted to increase its lead to 4-1. Jess Jones scored the goal for the Lakers by skating around the Colonial net and finding an opening. Bram tallied her third consecutive assist on the play.

The Colonials and Lakers skated through the next 13 minutes with very little action, but Mercyhurst's Bendus broke the silence at 15:29 when she exploded through the Robert Morris defensemen and scored the squad's third shorthanded goal of the game. The goal gave the Lakers a four goal cushion at 5-1.

Robert Morris answered back at 17:34 when Stoa won a face-off and sent the puck to O'Malley, who took a shot that was saved by Pattenden. Delaney picked up the rebound and found the back of the net to cut into Mercyhurst's lead 5-2.

The Colonials were called for a penalty at 1:37 in the final stanza and the Lakers quickly took advantage by scoring within the first second of the extra man advantage. Jones scored the goal off assists from Bendus and Bram, which marked her first hat trick of the season.

Mercyhurst outshot the Colonials 38 to 18 and Butterfield tallied 32 saves to Pattenden's 16. Both teams capitalized on one power play with RMU going one for ten and MC going one for five.

Robert Morris returns to the Mercyhurst Ice Center tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. to take on Mercyhurst in game two of the series.