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Robert Morris University Athletics

Women's Hockey

Colonials Sweep Weekly Awards for Third Time

Moon Township, Pa. - After earning a series victory over Niagara to clinch the best-ever league finish in school history, the Robert Morris University women's hockey team swept the College Hockey America (CHA) weekly awards for the third time this season.

Sophomore Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) was selected as CHA Player of the Week, junior Kristen DiCiocco (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) was named the CHA Goalie of the Week and freshman Rebecca Vint (Caledon, Ontario / Brampton Junior Thunder) was tabbed as the CHA Rookie of the Week after the trio helped Robert Morris tie its program record for longest unbeaten streak within conference play over the weekend.

DiCiocco's award is her fifth honor in the past eight weeks in which the Colonials have competed. With this accolade, DiCiocco tied the RMU record for most single-season CHA weekly honors by a goalie, matching the mark that her current assistant coach, Brianne McLaughlin, set in 2006-07.

Imbrogno notched not only her first award of the season but her first-ever player of the week honor, becoming the fifth active Colonial to have been recognized in that category. It marks the ninth-career in-season recognition for Imbrogno, including the fifth for her play in the month of February.

Imbrogno became the seventh distinct Colonial to have been honored by the CHA this season, which extends Robert Morris' school record for most distinct honorees in a single season.

Vint claimed her eighth in-season honor, which ties Imbrogno's school record from one year ago, as she earned honors in back-to-back weeks in which RMU competed for the third time this season. With Vint's award, a Robert Morris rookie has now earned weekly league recognition in 10 of the last 17 regular-season weeks in which RMU has competed.

While Robert Morris had previously swept the league honors this season, this week marked the first time that the Colonials pulled the trick with different student-athletes in each category.

DiCiocco played all 125 minutes in net while helping Robert Morris claim a win and a tie against Niagara. The junior posted a 1.44 GAA while making 37 saves and stoned the Purple Eagles on the power play. She held Niagara scoreless on all 12 of its power-play chances, including a combined 3:28 of time when the Purple Eagles had 5-on-3 advantages. DiCiocco has been a large reason why the RMU penalty kill has killed off 90% of opposition power plays within CHA action this season. DiCiocco, who became just the second netminder at RMU to reach 20 career victories Friday, leads the league in both goals against average and save percentage and ranks eighth nationally in the former category with her 1.87 mark.

Imbrogno tallied a pair of multi-point games to help Robert Morris take the home-and-home series. She opened the weekend by tallying two goals and an assist to move into the top five in career points at RMU. She also surpassed her freshman year total in goals and hit the 25-goal mark for her career with that effort. In Sunday's series finale, Imbrogno contributed to both Colonial scores as she posted a goal and a primary assist. That effort moved her into a tie for second in single-season points (32) at RMU and gave her 61 career points at 61 games. The multi-point outing was the ninth of the season for Imbrogno and the 16th of her career. She ranks fifth in the league in goals and seventh in points.

Vint broke two significant single-season school records over the weekend while helping Robert Morris to its series victory. In Friday's opener, she netted her record fifth game-winning goal of 2011-12 to break the school record for overall goals in a season. She added a second tally in the third period to register her sixth multi-goal game and also provided an assist. It was her fourth game of the season with at least three points. Vint finished the series by assisting on both RMU goals to break the single-season assist record and simultaneously became the first Colonial to notch 40 points in a season. Vint ranks fourth nationally in points per game among rookies (1.43) and also leads the CHA in game-winning goals (5).

The efforts by Imbrogno and Vint helped RMU break both its single-season record for goals in a season as well as goals in a CHA game this past weekend.

Robert Morris enters the final weekend of its regular season two points behind Mercyhurst for first place. However, the Colonials still control their own destiny as they will face the Lakers in a home-and-home series Friday, Feb. 17, and Saturday, Feb. 18, with the CHA regular-season title hanging in the balance. The teams will meet Friday in Erie, Pa. before concluding the weekend Saturday in Pittsburgh with both games scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.

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