Bridgeport, Ct. – Robert Morris University men's hockey completed its first sweep of the season with a 4-1 victory over Sacred Heart for the second consecutive game. Senior forward
Daniel Leavens scored the game-winning goal for the second straight night, while
Alex Tonge netted his seventh goal of the season.
Francis Marotte made 29 saves for his fifth win of the season, owning each of the Colonials five victories, with an overall record of 5-1-1 in his freshman campaign. The Colonials are now 18-0-1 all-time versus Sacred Heart.
RECAP
FIRST
Alex Dagnal scored his first goal of the season with 33 seconds remaining in the period. Dagnal picked up a bad clear attempt by Sacred Heart and tossed it into the net past Nathan Perry to give Robert Morris a 1-0 lead.
Marotte made 14 of his 29 saves in the first period.
SECOND
During a five-minute major penalty kill, the Colonials score a shorthanded goal late in the kill to extend the lead to 2-0. Ferguson brought the puck up the ice, passing to Mann before getting the puck back and dishing to Leavens who went bar down for his second goal of the weekend, at 10:45 of the second.
Leavens' shorthanded goal gives the Colonials shorthanded goals in three of the last four games.
Marotte made seven saves in the period, with seven minutes of the period being spent on the penalty kill.
THIRD
Sacred Heart gets on the board 5:15 into the third with a Jordan Minello power play goal, his second goal of the weekend, cutting the Colonials lead to 2-1.
With under four minutes to play, Leavens sprung a pass up ice to Ferguson who rushed 2-on-1 with Tonge, who buried his seventh goal of the season to make it a 3-1 Colonials lead.
The Pioneers pulled their goaltender and freshman
Matthew Graham and
Daniel Mantenuto pushed the puck off the boards near the benches, with Mantenuto finding
Alex Bontje across the ice. Bontje buried his first goal of the season into the empty net with 2:49 remaining.
TODAY'S MO-MENTUM
Daniel Leavens' goal changed the momentum of the game for the second straight contest. After a Sacred Heart shot rang off the post (later reviewed, no goal), Ferguson took the puck up ice and dealt a give-and-go pass to Mann before setting up Leavens for the goal that would prove to be the game-winning goal for the second time in as many games.
UP NEXT
Robert Morris (5-3-2, 4-3-1 AHC) has a bye week and returns to action with a Thanksgiving weekend non-conference series against Dartmouth in Pittsburgh, on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 84 Lumber Arena and Sunday, Nov. 27 at PPG Paints Arena. Tickets for Nov. 26 available at
RMUtickets.com and tickets for Nov. 27 can be purchased through
Ticketmaster.
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