Box Score Pittsburgh, Pa. - No. 4 Mercyhurst came out of the gates strong and opened up an early first-period lead that it would not relinquish as the Lakers took down the Robert Morris University women's hockey team, 7-1, in College Hockey America (CHA) action Saturday afternoon at the RMU Island Sports Center.
Freshman Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) continued her strong rookie season by netting the Colonials' tally in the second period. Imbrogno now has four points in three games against the nationally-ranked Lakers and leads the team with nine points during conference play.
Senior assistant captain Sara O'Malley (Guelph, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) and sophomore Dayna Newsom (Oakville, Ontario / Oakville Ice) combined to assist on Imbrogno's score.
Newsom, who now has assisted on six of Imbrogno's seven goals this season, collected her team-leading 15th helper of the season and is now tied for third place in single-season school history--she is just three assists shy of the record with seven regular-season games remaining.
Junior Brianna Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / NCCP Raiders) became the first RMU player to record three 20-point seasons in a career Friday night, but O'Malley made sure Delaney would not hold that distinction alone for long. O'Malley became the third Colonial to reach the 40-assist plateau for her career as her assist simultaneously provided her with her third-consecutive season with at least 20 points.
The Lakers scored a trio of goals in a 5:49 stretch midway through the opening frame to take control. Despite falling behind in the first, RMU actually outshot the Lakers 13-8 in the first 20 minutes of action, marking the first time in Mercyhurst's last 26 games against CHA foes that an opponent outshot it during a period.
After Mercyhurst scored an early second-period goal, Imbrogno, the reigning CHA Rookie of the Month, countered with a goal for the Colonials in the closing minutes of the second stanza. O'Malley gathered the puck near the red line and sent a nice pass ahead to Imbrogno who was streaking behind the Laker defense. Imbrogno finished off the play with an effective fake to put RMU on the board.
The Lakers would not let down, though, and proceeded to add additional insurance tallies to set the final margin.
The shot count in the game was not indicative of the score as the Lakers held a modest 33-26 edge. In fact, the 26 shots fired by the Colonials were the most shots RMU has ever had in a game against the Lakers over the course of the 26-game series between the squads.
Imbrogno's goal ensured that Robert Morris would not be shutout as RMU extended its impressive run--the Colonials have not been shutout in their past 34 games even though they have played 11 of those contests against nationally-ranked foes. No other CHA team currently has a streak longer than eight games, and Robert Morris' mark is better than nine of the 10 teams that are currently nationally ranked in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
RMU held the Lakers to a 1-for-6 mark on the power play and now has limited Mercyhurst to just three goals on its last 23 man-advantage attempts against the Colonials.
Delaney posted a game-high six shots for RMU and also won 10 of the 16 faceoffs she contested.
After playing its seventh game this season against a team that has been ranked No. 1 nationally, Robert Morris will now have nearly two weeks off from competition as the Colonials next hit the ice during the first weekend of February when they continue CHA play by hosting Niagara. Robert Morris will face off against the Purple Eagles Friday, Feb. 4 and Saturday, Feb. 5.
