Pittsburgh, Pa. – In a perfect ending to an incredible 2016 for the squad, head coach Paul Colontino earned his 100^th career victory when the No. 9 Robert Morris University women's hockey team completed a sweep of the Brown Bears with a 5-3 victory in the Colonials' final non-conference contest of the season Saturday afternoon in 84 Lumber Arena.
 
"With all awards I think, it's a nice feather in the hat that you want to appreciate," said Colontino of the 100 wins milestone, "but the biggest award is winning a team championship, and that's what we're looking for next. But by all means it's exciting. Our players and staff have done an amazing job to get to this point. Even 100 wins for the program in six years, if you look back six years, people might have thought it might have taken a little bit longer, but it's been good. This year, in particular, the team is doing amazing things out on the ice. They're a lot of fun to coach and they're a lot of fun to watch."
 
A fitting finale for a year that featured an incredible first half of the season for the Colonials, Robert Morris (14-1-5) extends its unbeaten streak to 13 games, and remains undefeated at home.
 
Redshirt junior Brittany Howard tabbed her fifth multi-point effort in six games and extended her point streak to 10 with a goal and two assists. Sophomore defenseman Maggie LaGue recorded her second multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist. Freshman forward Jaycee Gebhard posted a goal and an assist, while fellow rookie forward Natalie Marcuzzi tallied her first collegiate goal. Junior Katherine Murphy matched her career-best two points with a career-high-tying two assists. Junior forward Amanda Pantaleo extended her goal streak to five games with a power-play goal late in the third period. Senior goaltender Jessica Dodds made 17 saves.

 
Brown kicked off the third period with a flurry of shots in front of Dodds. The Bears got one to bounce past the Robert Morris goaltender just 18 seconds into the frame, and tied the game, 3-3. The Colonials killed off a crucial, two-minute, five-on-three Bears advantage, and Robert Morris gained possession immediately after its two players exited the box. Howard positioned herself in front of the Bears net and jammed one home to earn RMU a 4-3 lead at 8:42.
 
"Our thought was get all the pucks to the net," said Gebhard of the game plan following the penalty kill. "There was under 10 minutes left, so I got the pass from 'Brit' [Howard], and I just took it to the net, and she banged it home. It was kind of textbook what we talked about."
 
Pantaleo sealed the deal with a power-play tally, her fifth goal in as many games, to put Robert Morris up by two, 5-3, and secure the New Year's Eve victory.
 
RMU wasted no time and took control of the second period coming out of the first break. LaGue won a battle along the boards and took a shot from the dot to notch her third goal of the year and put Robert Morris back on top, 2-1. Twenty-five seconds later, Marcuzzi tipped in a shot from sophomore defenseman Kirsten Welsh and increased the Colonials' advantage to two, 3-1, with her first career score.
 
An untimely penalty call for the Colonials following Marcuzzi's goal led to a special teams tally for the Bears, and the game turned into a one-goal affair.
 
Similar to last evening's start, Robert Morris reached the board first and scored early. The first quality chance for either team occurred when junior forward Jessica Gazzola set up senior forward Maeve Garvey with a beautiful centering feed, but Garvey's shot went wide. Minutes later, Gebhard found a wide open corner and tapped the puck past Brown's junior goaltender Julianne Landry to earn a 1-0 lead for Robert Morris at 5:08 in the opening frame.
 
The Bears killed off two crucial penalties, one of which resulted in a five-on-three advantage for the Colonials, and followed up with a game-tying goal. Traffic in front of Dodds caused the senior netminder to lose track of the puck as it slid between her pads and into the net to even things up with 6:22 remaining before first intermission. The teams entered the locker rooms tied following the first 20 minutes of action.
 
RMU registered a season-high 53 shots on goal, including 20 in the second period, to Brown's 20 shots overall. Both teams scored once while on the power play.
 
Robert Morris will have a bye week next weekend, and returns to 84 Lumber Arena to resume College Hockey America play on Friday, Jan. 13 and Saturday, Jan. 14 for a two-game series against Lindenwood.
 
 
Milestone Achieved
Head coach Paul Colontino captured his 100^th career victory as head coach of the Robert Morris University women's hockey team.

Milestone Watch
Last evening, redshirt junior forward Brittany Howard improved to fifth on the all-time individual career scoring list at RMU. With two assists today, she is now two assists away from becoming the all-time assist leader at Robert Morris.
 
Trending
Redshirt junior Brittany Howard has posted a point in 18 of 20 games on the season, including the Colonials' last 10. Junior forward Amanda Pantaleo has scored a goal in her last five games.
 
First Line Fire
Top-line trio Amber Rennie, Brittany Howard and Jaycee Gebhard have combined for 81 points through 20 games, averaging 4.05 points per game.
 
Goals on Goals
Robert Morris has scored three or more goals in its last eight games.
 
We Must Protect This House
RMU is currently undefeated on home ice.
 
 
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