Storrs, Conn. - The Robert Morris University women's hockey team scored a shorthanded goal in the final two minutes of regulation but was unable to complete its comeback attempt Saturday evening as it fell to Quinnipiac, 3-2, in the Nutmeg Classic Championship at Freitas Ice Forum.

After not dropping any of its previous eight contests during its program-record stretch of nine consecutive games away from home, RMU came just short of making it through the daunting stretch undefeated. The setback snapped Robert Morris' program-record winning streak and its school-record unbeaten streak.

Despite the defeat, junior goaltender Kristen DiCiocco (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) was selected as the Laurie Belliveau Outstanding Goaltender of the tournament. DiCiocco, who ranks sixth nationally in goals against average, posted a shutout in Friday's 1-0 victory over Yale before tallying 20 saves Saturday against the Bobcats.

Sophomore Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) tallied a goal and an assist to post her fifth multi-point game of the season and the 12th of her career.

Sophomore defenseman Kylie St. Louis (Windsor, Ontario / Southwest Wildcats) registered her first-career shorthanded tally in the waning minutes while senior assistant captain Brianna Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / NCCP Raiders) assisted on Imbrogno's score.

The Colonials, which fell to 10-2-1 with the defeat, went 1-for-3 with a man-advantage to record a power-play goal in their fifth straight game, their longest such streak in over four years. RMU, which has the fourth-best power play nationally, has now converted on 15 of its past 31 opportunities.

Quinnipiac, which took down No. 4 Boston College this past Tuesday, fired a barrage of shots at the Colonial net in the first, but it looked for a time that RMU would escape the session unscathed. However, not long after the game's first penalty was called on Robert Morris, the Bobcats took the lead with their 13th shot of the frame, coming with 1:32 remaining in the period, and carried that advantage into the intermission.

Robert Morris finished killing off a penalty that spanned the intermission to open the second period, but the Colonials could not gain much momentum. After the first half of the second session featured few scoring chances for either team, Quinnipiac doubled its lead at the 11:25 mark with a goal from Megan Hagg.

RMU was soon faced with another shorthanded situation less than one minute later. The Colonials extinguished the chance without allowing a single shot and then soon cut into the Bobcat lead. With just 19 seconds remaining in the frame, Imbrogno scored courtesy of Delaney to make it a one-goal game after 40 minutes.

The Colonials took 12 of the first 16 shot attempts to open the third, but unfortunately for RMU, it was the Bobcats that opened the final-period scoring. Breann Frykas scored on the power play with just over six minutes remaining to entrench Quinnipiac in the driver's seat with a 3-1 lead. However, RMU refused to give up and began fighting back.

The task grew significantly tougher for RMU when their leading scorer was whistled for a penalty with just over two minutes left. St. Louis tried to rally the Colonials when she put home RMU's third shorthanded goal of the season with 1:16 left to play, but Robert Morris was unable to get off a tying shot attempt before the horn sounded.

After playing nine straight games away from home, Robert Morris will finally return home for four straight contests. The Colonials will have next weekend off before they resume action in Pittsburgh, and simultaneously open College Hockey America (CHA) play, with a two-game set against Syracuse Friday, Dec. 9, and Saturday, Dec. 10.