Women's Hockey | 11/2/2017 10:09:00 PM
PITTSBURGH -- The No. 10
Robert Morris women's hockey team continues College Hockey America (CHA) play by concluding a string of five consecutive road series, its most to start a season under
Paul Colontino, with a weekend series at Lindenwood. The first of two faceoffs from the Lindenwood Ice Arena in Wentzville, Missouri is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT/6:00 p.m. CDT Friday, with the second at 2:00 p.m. EDT/1:00 p.m. CDT Saturday.
The last time the Colonials (5-1-2, 0-0-2) embarked on a similar road swing, they played two standalone road games, followed by four road series, Oct. 26-Dec. 1, 2012, going 6-2-2 in that span. RMU is 22-7-1 all-time versus the Lions (2-5-1, 2-2-0), including a 7-4-1 mark as the visitor. Robert Morris is unbeaten in its last four outings (3-0-1) at LU, including a 2-1 and 3-0 sweep Feb. 24-25 in the last series of its 2016-17 regular season.
This is their first meeting since a 2-1 RMU win in the CHA Semifinal Mar. 3, when
Jessica Gazzola scored the game-winning goal from
Amanda Pantaleo with 7:06 left in regulation en route to the tournament championship and first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
Robert Morris is coming off back-to-back ties, 3-3 and 2-2, at Penn State Oct. 28-29, respectively, in the first CHA series of 2017-18 for both schools.
#10/#10 Robert Morris at Lindenwood - Nov. 3-4
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Key Notes
Jaycee Gebhard scored a goal in each of the last two periods to usher in the aforementioned Robert Morris sweep at Lindenwood Ice Arena, while
Amber Rennie finished with a goal and two assists over the two RMU victories.
Brittany Howard was named CHA Player of the Month for October, the sixth monthly award of her collegiate career. She led the conference with nine goals, 15 points, two shorthanded goals and two game-winning goals while centering the Colonials' top line, and she became the all-time leading scorer in program history with a five-point effort at Mankato Oct. 8. Howard, who became the second RMU player to net 60 career goals Oct. 14, enters November with 63 all-time, plus 84 assists and 147 points in 115 games at Robert Morris.
Elijah Milne-Price was named CHA Goalie of the Month for October, her first monthly award as a collegian. She has begun the regular season on a personal six-game unbeaten streak (4-0-2), leading the conference in wins, goals-against average (1.16) and save percentage (.947).
Milne-Price, in addition, was named CHA Goalie of the Week for the second time in three weeks. She combined for 52 saves in a pair of ties at Penn State last weekend, including 22 over the last two regulation periods last Saturday.
Defender
Kirsten Welsh earned CHA Player of the Week honors by scoring back-to-back game-tying goals at Penn State in the first CHA series of the season for both teams. All three of her goals this season have been equalizers, and her first tally of the weekend was a 1-on-3 play with 1:37 left in regulation. Welsh finished the series a plus-1 and blocked four shots Sunday.
Robert Morris is No. 10 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll. The Colonials have been ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 20 sets released, including 19 USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. RMU has received votes in 25 consecutive USA Today polls since Nov. 1, 2016.
Drama Queens
Natalie Fraser and
Amanda Pantaleo each have the distinction of scoring their first career goals in overtime against Lindenwood. Fraser gave the Colonials a 3-2 triumph at LU 2:25 into the sudden-victory period Nov. 7, 2014 after also setting up
Mackenzie Johnston's tying goal 4:20 into the third, and Pantaleo won a 2-1 contest at the RMU Island Sports Center Jan. 23, 2015 with :21 to play in the extra session.
The Curly Shuffle
Defender
Emily Curlett played both the left and right sides in the first month of her first collegiate season, and she contributed up front as well. Curlett, while paired with veteran
Maggie LaGue, opened her NCAA account with two goals, including a shorthanded marker, at Brown Oct. 20, and an assist on the game-winning goal by
Jaycee Gebhard. She claimed CHA Rookie of the Week honors for ending the series a plus-4 and blocking four shots. Curlett has five points (2 G, 3 A) through October, and the Colonials D-corps combined for 23 points (6 G, 17 A) last month, making it the highest-scoring unit in the conference and No. 6 in the NCAA.
An "A" For Effort
Jaycee Gebhard was named CHA Player of the Week for her game-winning goal at Brown Oct. 20 and collection of six assists in the series. Through October, Gebhard leads Division I with 13 assists. She figured in on all six Robert Morris goals at Mankato Oct. 8 to match a school single-game record that had been untouched since Maria Olausson had six helpers against Chatham Oct. 27, 2006 at the RMU Island Sports Center.
Multiplicity
Amber Rennie had multiple goals in two games in October. These were the first two multi-goal games since her rookie campaign, including a natural hat trick at Mankato Oct. 8, her first collegiate hatty. The program record for career multi-goal games is the 12 registered by former all-time points leader Rebecca Vint, now with the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) after playing with RMU 2011-2015.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
The Robert Morris offense fired 56 shots on goal at Brown Oct. 20, its sixth-highest single-game total in history and most since taking 54 on Sacred Heart Jan. 23, 2010. Four of the program's five highest single-game shot totals, in fact, have come against Lindenwood:
• 92 vs. Lindenwood, Mar. 1, 2013
• 61 vs. Lindenwood, Oct. 8, 2011
• 59 at Lindenwood, Nov. 12, 2011
• 57 at Lindenwood, Feb. 1, 2014
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