Women's Hockey | 11/9/2017 8:45:00 PM

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 9 Robert Morris women's hockey team plays at home for the first time this regular season after a string of five consecutive road series, its most to start a season under Paul Colontino, when it hosts College Hockey America (CHA) rival RIT Friday at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday at 3:05 p.m. at the RMU Island Sports Center.

The Colonials (7-1-2, 2-0-2) enjoyed their most successful road swing under their seventh-year bench boss since 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 13-10-3 all-time versus the Rochester Institute of Technology, having won four straight meetings and seven of the last eight from the Tigers (4-5-1, 1-1-0). The Colonials swept the last series between the teams with 4-1 and 5-2 wins at Colonials Arena Feb. 10-11, 2017, respectively. Brittany Howard and Jaycee Gebhard finished the series with three goals apiece.

Robert Morris is coming off 6-0 and 4-2 victories at Lindenwood, another conference foe, Nov. 3-4, respectively, extending its unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2).

Last season the Colonials went unbeaten in six games (4-0-2) Oct. 1-15 to begin the 2016-17 campaign, and they went unbeaten in 13 in a row (10-0-3) Oct. 22-Dec. 31 en route to their first-ever College Hockey America (CHA) regular-season title, second-ever CHA Tournament crown and first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.

#10/#9 Robert Morris vs. RIT - Nov. 10-11
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Key Notes

Defender Kirsten Welsh, with an assist and subsequent power-play goal in the third period at Lindenwood last Friday, finished that contest with 57 career points (20 G, 37 A), making her the program's new career points leader among defensemen. Mikaela Lowater '16 held the record with 56 (15 G, 41 A).

Forward Lexi Templeman joined defender Emily Curlett as the second RMU player this season to be named CHA Rookie of the Week. She scored her team-leading third power play goal of the year and registered three assists, including both game-winning helpers, in the sweep of Lindenwood. She finished the series with a plus-2 rating and is on a three-game point streak.



Jessica Gazzola registered three assists in last Friday's victory at LU. That was her second game already with multiple points after finishing her junior season with only three multi-point games. She had a goal, an assist and a plus-1 rating on four shots the last time the Colonials faced RIT Feb. 11, 2017. Meanwhile, Gazzola has teamed with defender Natalie Fraser to raise money for the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh, as part of their senior project for the exclusive student-athlete group Colonial Leadership Academy, by auctioning off gift baskets at Friday night's game they helped create.



Amanda Pantaleo potted a short-handed goal that proved to be the game-winner last Saturday. RMU leads Division I through Thursday with four shorties this season. Pantaleo, on Feb. 18, 2017 versus Penn State, scored the only short-handed goal for Robert Morris all of last season.



Robert Morris is No. 10 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and No. 9 in the 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 21 sets released, including 20 USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. RMU has received votes in 26 consecutive USA Today polls since Nov. 1, 2016.

Kat and Mouse

While Kirsten Welsh has captured the program's record for career points by a defender, an interesting race is unfolding for the all-time defensive assists lead at Robert Morris. Katherine Murphy enters this homestand with 46 career helpers, and Maggie LaGue comes in with 45. In the first period of RMU's 4-2 win at Lindenwood last Saturday, LaGue set up the game's first goal, by blue line partner Emily Curlett, only to see Murphy one-up her by aiding Jaycee Gebhard's empty-netter in the game's final minute.

The Nov. 3 goal that gave Welsh her aforementioned career D-man points record was assisted by Brittany Howard, who became the program's overall career points leader Oct. 8. Welsh returned the favor by assisting on a Howard goal 30 seconds into the second period at Lindenwood, Howard's conference-leading tenth of the season.

The Center of Attention

Top-line center Brittany Howard leads College Hockey America with a 1.70 points-per-game average and is getting shots on goal at a conference-high 5.50 clip. Furthermore, she has helped the Colonials increase their productivity in the faceoff circle, as RMU jumped ten notches in the national faceoff rankings after its series sweep at Lindenwood. Howard won 18 draws in the finale Nov. 4, matching her season high from Oct. 14, when she went 18-for-25 from the dot at Maine.

Howard enters the first home series of 2017-18 with 21 career points (10 G, 11 A) versus the Tigers. Two of her eight power play goals and one of her three game-winning goals last season en route to her CHA scoring title were registered against RIT.

Paying the Price

Elijah Milne-Price is off to a red-hot start between the pipes after succeeding all-conference honoree Jessica Dodds. Last Friday she made 20 saves for her second career shutout, a 6-0 decision over Lindenwood. She leads CHA with six wins, a 1.12 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage that is also tied for fourth nationally. Last Saturday, "E.J." turned aside 20 more pucks for her second straight victory since being simultaneuosly named CHA Goalie of the Week and Month. She also earned CHA Rookie of the Week honors for a 15-save effort at Maine Oct. 13.

Emily Curlett was instrumental in the Nov. 4 Robert Morris win with a game-high five blocked shots; Lindenwood, as a team, had nine. The rookie blue-liner ranks fourth in CHA with 25 this season. Robert Morris blocked 30 total shots over its last series.

A Long Time Coming

Caitlyn Sadowy, playing in her first competitive game since missing last season with upper-body injuries, opened the scoring in a 4-1 preseason win over Ryerson at Colonials Arena Sept. 23, and Lexi Templeman provided the game-winner. On Nov. 3 Templeman set up Sadowy on an RMU power play for the latter's first official goal since suffering those injuries and first-ever GWG.

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