North Andover, Mass. – The Robert Morris University women's hockey team suffered its first setback of the season to Merrimack College in a 4-3 overtime loss on Friday afternoon in Lawler Arena.
 
The Warriors (3-4-0) halted the Colonials' (4-1-2) program-record season-opening unbeaten streak at six games.
 
Seven different Colonials recorded points in the overtime decision. Freshman Jaycee Gebhard recorded her sixth multi-point effort in seven games with two assists, and extended her current point streak to three outings. Redshirt junior Brittany Howard, sophomore Amber Rennie, and sophomore Kirsten Welsh were the goal scorers for Robert Morris. Senior Maeve Garvey, sophomore Maggie LaGue, and junior Katherine Murphy all tallied an assist. Sophomore goaltender Lauren Bailey made 27 saves.
 
The overtime period was near expiration when Merrimack freshman Mikyla Grant-Mentis scored the overtime game winner for the Warriors at 3:38. The goal occurred in timely fashion, as it turned out to be her first career tally.
 
Merrimack forced overtime with a game-tying goal over halfway through the third period. Howard's goal late in the second period propelled the Colonials to a 3-2 lead heading into the locker room for the second intermission, but the Warriors responded well in the third, just as they did earlier in the game to make things interesting for RMU.
 
Robert Morris amassed a 2-0 lead at 4:30 in the second frame, when Gebhard and Rennie crashed the net in front, and Rennie was able to cash in on Gebhard's rebound. Merrimack went straight to work after Rennie's goal, and scored two goals in 32 seconds to even the score, 2-2. The initial Warriors goal occurred on the first of two second-period power-play chances for Merrimack. RMU won the resultant faceoff, but Merrimack quickly regained possession of the puck and managed to score a quick game-tying goal.
 
For the third consecutive game, RMU opened the scoring, as Welsh ripped a shot on the power play to help the Colonials to a one-goal lead with less than five minutes remaining in the opening frame.
 
Robert Morris will have a chance to even the score with Merrimack in game two of the road series on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m.
 
 
Freshman Phenom
Freshman forward Jaycee Gebhard leads the Colonials with 12 points, and paces the nation in power-play goals (3), and points per game among rookies (1.71).
 
Trending
Sophomore defenseman Kirsten Welsh has scored a goal in three of the last four games. Redshirt junior Brittany Howard and freshman Jaycee Gebhard are currently riding a three-game point streak. Gebhard has recorded multi-point efforts in six of seven games on the season.
 
National Radar
Robert Morris is currently receiving votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll and the USCHO.com Poll.
 
 
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