Pittsburgh, Pa. ? March 17, 2009 ? The Robert Morris University Colonials fell to the Duquesne Dukes in a heartbreaking 17-15 loss at the Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field on Tuesday evening. In all four of the Colonials' losses this season they have lost by only two goals or less.
The Colonials had the lead four different times throughout the game and even went through 15 minutes in the first half and five minutes in the second with the lead. The defeat moves RMU to 3-4, while Duquesne improves to 4-4.
Emily Tomlinson (Springfield, Va. / West Springfield) led the way for the Colonials with a season-high five goals and two assists for seven points. Senior Jennifer Collins (Edgewater, Md. / South River) registered four goals in the defeat and Kara Blakeley (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine-Richland) netted three goals. Senior Ashley Levering (Glenwood, Md. / Glenelg) led the team in assists for the fifth time this season, recording three helpers in the contest.
Ali Gibbons (Candia, N.H. / Manchester) led the team in caused turnovers with three and junior goalie Erica Webb (Arnold, Md. / Broadneck) finished the contest with 12 saves.
Duquesne started off play with a goal by Cailin Colegrove 13 seconds after the first draw, but Robert Morris quickly regained the lead, 2-1, when Tomlinson scored back-to-back goals at 1:12 and 3:57.
The two-goal pattern continued, as Duquesne was able to find the net at 7:55 and 9:36 to retake the lead, 3-2. However, RMU's Tomlinson was able to beat Duquesne goalie Sara Beckstead for her third goal of the game at 9:52 off an assist from Levering and then freshman Courtney Sicinski (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West) fired a hard shot into the Dukes net at 17:49 to take back the lead, 4-3.
With 16:17 left on the clock the Dukes tied things up when Shannon Hadaway took advantage of a free position shot and scored for her first goal of the night.
The Colonials responded with three unanswered goals within less than a three minute span to set the score at 7-4. The Dukes were able to squeeze a goal in at 8:59, but Robert Morris would not be silenced, as Alana Beck (Carle Place, N.Y. / Old Dominion) and Collins tallied goals at 22:36 and 27:36, respectively. The two goals gave RMU its largest lead of the half, 9-5.
However, the Dukes were able to change the momentum of the game in the final 1:48 of the opening half and scored four goals in a row to leave the score knotted 9-9 at the buzzer.
The Colonials quickly regained the lead within the first 1:30 of the second half when Tomlinson found Collins waiting in front of the net to strike the ball into the net. Tomlinson increased that lead a minute later with a goal of her own.
Less than a minute later the Dukes were able to cut into the Colonials lead when Katie Rekart netted her third goal of the game. Blakeley was able to get back RMU's two goal lead with a score at 3:58.
The Colonials struggled to find the net for the next 13 minutes, while Duquesne went on a four-goal scoring spree to grab their first lead of the half, 14-12.
Unfortunately, the Colonials were never able to recover the lead for the remainder of the game. Jenn Collins was able to find the net at 17:05, but then Duquesne scored three more times to record their biggest lead of the game, 17-13.
Robert Morris made a run for it in the last four minutes of action, with Blakeley scoring for the third time of the game at 3:48 and Trombetta netting her first goal of the game with three minutes left. However, it was not enough as Duquesne went on to win 17-15.
The Colonials head to New York this weekend to take on Manhattan on Friday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m.
