Hamden, Conn. – Trailing 3-0 heading into the third period, a late comeback bid fell short for the Robert Morris University women's hockey team, as they dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 4 Quinnipiac at TD Bank Sports Center Friday night.
 
This is the first loss for the Colonials (12-7-4) in their last  six games, while the Bobcats (18-1-4) continue to surge and extend a sixteen-game unbeaten streak.
 
Sophomore Natalie Fraser and junior assistant captain Rikki Meilleur scored for the Colonials, with both goals coming in the third period. Redshirt sophomore Brittany Howard extended her point streak to eight games with an assist on Fraser's goal. Howard leads the team with 30 points on the season. The freshman duo of Maggie LaGue and Amber Rennie assisted on the Meilleur tally. Rennie also had an assist on Fraser's goal to record a multi-point game.
 
The Colonials battled for 60 minutes, and put their determination on display late in the third period when they found themselves trailing by three goals. As the Bobcats controlled the puck in the RMU zone, Howard got a hold of it and took a shot down on the other end of the ice, where she was taken down by a Quinnipiac defender and drew a delayed penalty on the rebound attempt. Fraser, however, got to the puck for a follow-up backhander and put Robert Morris on the board at 10:56 in the frame.
 
With 1:21 on the clock in the third period, the Colonials called a timeout and made the decision to pull junior goaltender Jessica Dodds. Once RMU gained control of the puck, Dodds skated to the bench and the Colonials added an extra attacker with less than a minute to play. Coming out of a Quinnipiac timeout, Robert Morris won the faceoff and kept the puck in the Bobcats' zone long enough for Meilleur to put back a LaGue rebound and bring the game within one with 7.8 seconds remaining in the period. But time expired before the Colonials got a chance to score a game-tying goal and fell just short of a chance to upset the top-five team.
 
Robert Morris had trouble taming the Bobcats' power play early on, as No. 4 Quinnipiac recorded back-to-back power-play goals in the second period to take control of the game through the first 40 minutes.
 
Quinnipiac's Lindsey West sent a backhand shot past Dodds during the Bobcats' first man-advantage opportunity, less than two minutes into the second period, to give the home team a 2-0 lead. On their second power-play of the game, Meghan Turner poked her own rebound into the net to put Quinnipiac ahead by three.
 
The Bobcats went 2-for-3 on the power play. The Colonials failed to score a power-play goal for the first time in their last six games, as they went 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
 
Puck drop for Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 16 at 2 p.m.
 
 
Leading the Way
Redshirt sophomore Brittany Howard's assist in tonight's game increased her season point total to a team-leading 30 (11-19-30) and extended her current point streak to eight games. She leads the Colonials in goals, assists and points. Howard ranks seventh all-time in career points (72) at RMU.
 
 
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