Box Score Columbus, Ohio - Jan. 3, 2010 - The Ohio State Buckeyes scored four first period goals, which led them to a 6-1 victory against the Robert Morris University Colonials in game two of the series on Sunday afternoon at the OSU Ice Rink. Once again, junior Sara O'Malley (Guelph, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) scored the Colonials' only goal of the contest, extending her scoring streak to four games.
The loss marks RMU's third straight and brings its record to 5-13-1, while the Buckeyes improve to 9-7-4.
Despite both teams being relatively even in shots in the first period with Ohio State firing off 14 and Robert Morris taking 10 shots, the Buckeyes took a commanding 4-1 lead in the initial stanza of action. Laura McIntosh started OSU's collection of first period goals just 42 seconds into the game off assists from Sandy Nelson and Hokey Langan to take a 1-0 lead.
Robert Morris was able to tie the game up at 4:18 when O'Malley beat OSU goalie Chelsea Knapp, which marked her 10th goal of the season. Freshman Jennifer Kindret (Winnipeg, Manitoba / BC Breakers) and senior Mallory Giambra (Rochester, N.Y. / Rochester Edge) were credited with the helpers on the play.
However, the Colonials were unable to hold that tie for very long as OSU's Melissa Feste scored her first goal of the contest 32 seconds after O'Malley's goal off assists from Kelly Wild and Paige Semenza. She then added another goal at 9:06 to give OSU a quick 3-1 lead.
Ohio State sent the game into the second period up 4-1 after Semenza got the puck past freshman goalie Kristen DiCiocco (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres), marking her second goal of the season. Following the score, the Colonials made a goalie change and sent junior Daneca Buttefield (Kronau, Saskatchewan / Notre Dame Hounds) into the game to protect the RMU net.
The second period was less action packed then the first with neither team scoring for the majority of play. With less than 30 seconds on the clock Natalie Spooner was able to find an opening in the Colonial net to extend OSU's lead to 5-1. Feste and Wild added the helpers on the play.
The third period looked very similar to the second with Ohio State scoring one goal. This time the goal was scored early in the period with Raelyn LaRocque earnirn her fifth goal of the season at 3:22 in the period to give Ohio State a 6-1 advantage. Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the game to secure the victory for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes outshot the Colonials 38 to 23 and both teams frustrated each other with their penalty kill, as RMU was zero-for-three on the power play and the Buckeyes were zero-for-two.
The RMU duo of DiCiocco and Butterfield finished the contest with 32 saves, with Butterfield contributing 26 of those saves, while OSU's Knapp captured 22 saves in the victory.
Robert Morris returns to action on Friday, January 8 to take on Connecticut at Mellon Arena during the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase. This will be the second year the women will participate in the event.
