Box Score Wentzville, Mo. - Senior assistant captain Brianna Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / NCCP Raiders) provided the Colonials' second four-point effort in as many days as the Robert Morris University women's hockey team delivered another dominating effort to break its program-record unbeaten streak with a 6-0 whitewashing over host Lindenwood Sunday afternoon at the Lindenwood Ice Arena.
RMU is now unbeaten over its last six contests, all of which have come on the road, a mark which is currently tied for the longest active streak nationally with No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 8/9 Northeastern. With the win, Robert Morris moved to 8-1-1 on the season, the best 10-game start in program history, and climbed up to fourth nationally in winning percentage (.850).
The Colonial special teams played an enormous role in Sunday's victory as both the power play and penalty kill reached new heights.
RMU scored five power-play tallies against the Lady Lions, breaking its previous single-game school record, and finished the weekend 9-for-16 with a man-advantage. On the other end of the spectrum, Robert Morris held Lindenwood to an 0-for-11 mark with an extra attacker(s), marking the most power plays RMU has killed off in a game without allowing a single power-play tally.
Delaney registered the third four-point effort of her career and the first since her freshman campaign on the strength of one goal and three assists as she factored into four straight RMU goals. It was her fourth multi-point game of the season and the 27th of her career, moving her out of a tie and into sole possession of the all-time lead in that category at RMU. Delaney's performance was also her 10th-career multi-assist game, extending her own program record, and her second-ever three-assist outing.
Sophomore defenseman Kylie St. Louis (Windsor, Ontario / Southwest Wildcats) added on to her already superb offensive weekend by registering a goal and an assist to finish the series with five points. St. Louis entered the weekend without a multi-point game to her credit in her career, but she collected two within the span of 18 hours against RMU's future College Hockey America (CHA) foe.
After extending her point streak solely with assists in the past three games, freshman Rebecca Vint (Caledon, Ontario / Brampton Junior Thunder) found the scoring column again Sunday as she tallied a game-best two goals. Vint's fourth multi-goal game of the season extended her point streak to 10 games, tying RMU's overall record for longest point streak, a mark which is held by current sophomore Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs). Vint collected her sixth multi-point game in 10 chances and again earned game-high honors in shots with 10 for the second straight day, becoming the first Colonial in school history to record more than one 10-shot game in a career.
In just her second-career appearance between the pipes, freshman goaltender Courtney Vinet (Camrose, Alberta / Edge School) earned her first-collegiate shutout as she stopped a team season-high-tying 31 shots. Vinet moved to 2-0-0 with the win, becoming the first Colonial in school history to earn wins in each of her first two appearances in net. In not allowing a single tally, Vinet kept RMU's even-strength goals allowed at a mere seven through 10 games played this season.
Robert Morris scored early in all three periods Saturday night, but the Colonials were unable to strike as quickly Sunday. In fact, Lindenwood was granted two chances to take the lead as it received a pair of two-minute power plays when the game was still scoreless in the middle portions of the first. However, Vinet and the RMU penalty kill kept the game even until the Colonial offense could pounce.
Junior Dayna Newsom (Oakville, Ontario / Oakville Ice) opened the scoring with a tally with 3:29 remaining in the first on which St. Louis added the assist. After notching two points Saturday, Newsom has now tallied points in back-to-back games for the first time this season and also recorded her first-career game-winning goal Sunday.
After killing off another penalty that spanned the first and second periods, Robert Morris began to pour it on in the second stanza by tallying a trio of goals.
St. Louis collected her second point in fewer than seven minutes as she found the back of the net just 3:48 into the second with freshman Katie Fergus (Oakville, Ontario / Burlington Jr. Barracudas) providing the assist.
RMU killed off another penalty in the middle part of the second before Delaney captured her first point of the day with a goal at the 14:37 mark. Junior Cobina Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / Ottawa Senators) and freshman Katelyn Scott (Brighton, Mich. / Belle Tire) aided Brianna Delaney's goal. Cobina Delaney assisted on a goal for her older sibling for the fifth time in their careers and the third time this season while Scott earned her first-collegiate point in the process.
The Colonials erased another Lindenwood power play in the closing minutes of the second before Vint made it a four-goal game in the final minute of the period. She scored with 43 ticks left in the second as junior defenseman Jamie Joslin (Richmond Hill, Ontario / Aurora Panthers) and Brianna Delaney assisted. The helper gave Joslin points in three straight games for the second time this season as the blueliner now has nine points in 10 games overall.
Not only did Robert Morris successfully kill off 6-of-6 Lady Lion power plays in the third, it actually managed to add to its lead as well as it put home two more scores.
One day after her amazing five-point performance, junior Kelsey Thomas (Hamilton, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) continued her point streak by scoring at the 8:42 mark courtesy of Brianna Delaney. Thomas, who now has goals in back-to-back games for the first time in her career, extended her career-long point streak to six games.
The Colonials put the finishing touches on the victory by killing off 2:41 of a 6-on-4 Lindenwood advantage before Vint found the twine with just under two minutes left to set the final margin. Brianna and Cobina Delaney combined to assist on the final goal. The assist for Cobina was her second of the afternoon, giving her two multi-assist games this season and six for her career as she also extended her current point streak to five games.
RMU had a dominant advantage in the faceoff department for the second straight day as it won 53 of the 79 draws. Newsom was again particularly sharp as she went 14-2 at the dot Sunday and combined to go 26-5 on the weekend.
Robert Morris has next weekend off and will look to keep its unbeaten streak going when it resumes action Tuesday, Nov. 22, at Colgate as it continues its program-record stretch of nine-consecutive games away from home. First puck drop is set for 7 p.m.