Pittsburgh, Pa. – In their first appearance on home ice this season, the Robert Morris University women's hockey team earned its first win of the year, a 6-1 victory over Merrimack, Friday evening at 84 Lumber Arena.
 
Redshirt sophomore Brittany Howard recorded a season-high two goals and junior Rikki Meilleur, sophomore Amanda Pantaleo, senior Anissa Gamble and freshman Amber Rennie each scored to propel the Colonials to victory. Rennie also earned her first assist of the year, while freshman Sarah Quaranta dished out three and fellow rookie Kirsten Welsh added two.
 
For the first time this season, Robert Morris (1-3-1) got on the board before their opponent, as Howard sparked an offensively furious first period for the Colonials with a goal just 1:57 into the game. Back-to-back power play goals from Meilleur and Pantaleo padded the RMU lead, and Gamble's first goal of the year gave the home team a 4-0 advantage heading into the first intermission.
 
RMU's shutout bid continued through the third as they held Merrimack (0-3-0) scoreless through 40 minutes, while they widened the gap with Howard's second goal of the game and Rennie's fourth on the year. The Warriors scored early in the third, but were unable to stir up a late rally with too little time remaining to make a comeback.
 
The Colonials and the Warriors return to 84 Lumber Arena for Game 2 of the series on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 3:05 p.m.
 
Quoting Head Coach Paul Colontino
On tonight's win…
It's exciting to get the first win of the season and get it at home. Sometimes it's more special to win at home. The girls have worked hard the past couple weekends and we came up a little short at times on the scoreboard. Today it was nice to get a couple key goals, give ourselves a little bit of padding. I think getting that first win under their belt feels really good for them.
 
On what was discussed during first intermission to keep momentum going into second period…
It's just maintaining good habits. That's all it is. We got ourselves off to a great start and the goal is to reset back to zero and start each period fresh and try and maintain that hard work and momentum we've built already. They were able to do that so we're very pleased with it. We got good efforts all the way around.
 
 
How About Howard
Brittany Howard sparked RMU's offense tonight with two goals to mark her first multi-goal game of the season and third multi-point effort in five games on the year. She leads the Colonials with six points (3g, 3a).
 
First-Timers
Multiple players earned their first points of the season in tonight's game: Anissa Gamble (1-0-1), Victoria Harshman (0-1-1), Katherine Murhpy (0-1-1) and Caitlyn Sadowy (0-1-1). Harshman and Sadowy's assists mark their first career helpers.
 
Freshman Phenoms
In another outstanding effort by the freshman class, all six freshmen that saw ice time in tonight's game combined for 10 points (1-9-10).
 
High-Level Hockey
The Colonials recorded season highs in points (18), goals (6), assists (12) and shots on goal (33) in tonight's game. This is the first time all season that RMU took more shots than its opponent. Individually, Brittany Howard's two goals and Sarah Quaranta's three points on three assists account for individual game highs.
 
Power Up
Robert Morris went two-for-four on the power play. Merrimack entered tonight's game as the nation's leader in power play conversion, but the Colonials' penalty kill unit held the Warriors scoreless in all four of their one-man advantage situations.
 
 
Follow RMU Women's Hockey:
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Robert Morris University Athletics