Pittsburgh, Pa. - In non-conference action at the RMU Island Sports Center Friday night, the Robert Morris University women's hockey team fell to Quinnipiac, 2-1.

The Colonials scored the opening goal of the contest at 4:22 of the first period when junior forward Kristen Richards (Toronto, Ontario / Niagara University) scored her seventh goal of the season.  Sophomore forward Maddie Collias (Roseville, Mich. / Belle Tire) passed off to line mate Katelyn Scott (Brighton, Mich. / Belle Tire) in the left faceoff zone. Scott dumped the puck behind the net to Richards who fired a shot on net to score the only RMU goal of the game.

The Bobcats answered RMU's goal ten minutes later on a short-handed goal from sophomore forward Nicole Kosta. Less than two minutes into the first Robert Morris power play of the contest, Quinnipiac executed a 2-on-1 opportunity to tie the game, 1-1. Junior forward Kelly Babstock and Kosta exchanged passes back-and-forth from center ice until Babstock hit Kosta with pass that she buried into the right side of the cage.

Neither Robert Morris nor Quinnipiac could execute scoring opportunities in the second period. Each team had two power play chances in the period as the Colonials outshot Quinnipiac 4-2 on the power play only to have the Bobcats outshot RMU, 11-6 in the overall period.

Just 22 seconds into the third period, Quinnipiac senior forward Brittany Lyons scored the game-winning goal with freshman forward Nicole Connery tallying the assist. The goal marks the 13^th of the season for Lyons while the assist is the 6^th for Connery.

In the past three consecutive contests for the Colonials, the forward line of Collias, Richards and Scott have accounted for five of RMU's eight goals. The line has also dished out three assists in three games. Collias and Richards have totaled three points in RMU's previous two contests. After tonight's contest, Collias has doubled her point total from her freshman campaign and still has 11 games left to play this season.

Senior goaltender Kristen DiCiocco (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) earned the start in net for the Colonials. DiCicco registered a 22-save performance in the loss.

Robert Morris now owns and overall record of 10-7-2 while Quinnipiac improves to 13-9-2. RMU and Quinnipiac return to action in a rematch contest tomorrow, Sat., January 19 at the RMU Island Sports Center. Faceoff is set for 2:05 p.m.