Pittsburgh, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's hockey team opened up its 2014-15 campaign with a 10-2 win over the Bluewater Jr. Hawks of the Provincial Women's Hockey League (PWHL) in exhibition play this evening.
Robert Morris received goals from eight different players, including two each from senior forward
Katie Fergus and sophomore forward
Maeve Garvey. 14 of the 19 Colonial skaters collected at least one point.
RMU jumped out to 4-0 lead in the first period. Fergus picked up the first of two goals off a redirection from a
Katelyn Scott shot. Sophomore forward
Anissa Gamble picked up the secondary assist.
Sophomore forward
Mackenzie Johnston tallied the second goal as she stole the puck and rifled a shot from the right circle past the Bluewater goaltender.
With less than four minutes remaining in the frame, freshman forward
Amanda Pantaleo picked up her first goal off a nice find from sophomore forward
Rikki Meilleur. 33 seconds later, Gamble gathered the puck off the faceoff and ripped the back of the net.
The Hawks would cut into the Colonial lead in the second period with a goal 4:45 into the frame. However, goals from Meilleur and Fergus within 18 seconds of each other would push the RMU advantage to 6-1.
Junior assistant captain
Ashley Vesci joined in on the fun at the 16:44 mark of the second period, as she gathered a pass from sophomore forward
Brittany Howard on a two-on-one advantage and beat the Hawks netminder. Garvey earned the secondary assist on the play, as she found Howard from the defensive zone.
Garvey pushed the Colonial lead to 8-1 just 43 seconds into the third period off a pass from her fellow sophomore Howard. Bluewater responded with a goal of its own at the 12:43 mark, but Garvey scored again 75 seconds later to keep the advantage at seven.
Freshman forward
Katherine Murphy finished the game off with a power-play goal at the 16:20 mark. Murphy redirected a
Jessica Gazzola shot in front of the crease to nab the 10th RMU goal of the contest.
Erin Staniewski picked up the secondary assist.
This is the first time the Colonials have scored 10 or more goals in an exhibition game since Sept. 23, 2011 when they beat Penn State, 12-0, in
Paul Colontino's debut. RMU last scored double-digit goals in a regular-season game on Jan. 23, 2010 when it scored 13 in a 13-4 victory over Sacred Heart.
All three Colonial goaltenders played one period against the Hawks. Senior netminder
Courtney Vinet made two saves in the first frame, then sophomore
Jessica Dodds took over in the second period, stopping five of six shots. Fellow sophomore
Carley Catherine pushed aside two of three shots in the last 20 minutes.
Robert Morris opens up regular-season play next weekend with a two-game series against Bemidji State. The first meeting with the Beavers on Friday, Sept. 27 is scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start from 84 Lumber Arena.
