Women's Hockey | 12/8/2017 12:25:00 PM
PITTSBURGH -- The No. 9
Robert Morris women's hockey team concludes the 2017 portion of its regular season with a standalone, non-conference game at No. 4/4 Colgate (15-3-0, 6-2-0) Saturday at 3:00 p.m. This is the only top-ten matchup on the NCAA Division I schedule this week, and for the Colonials it is their fifth visit in team history to Class of 1965 Arena and first since their Oct. 2-3, 2015 series in Hamilton, New York.
The Colonials (11-3-2, 5-1-2) last beat the nation's No. 4 team at the RMU Island Sports Center Dec. 8, 2012, a 2-1 victory over then-No. 4/5 Mercyhurst. Head coach
Paul Colontino had earned his 50th win at RMU in a 3-1 game the night before.
Robert Morris is unbeaten in seven straight (5-0-2) versus Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) opponents, having swept Brown Oct. 20-21. The defending College Hockey America (CHA) champion held a three-point lead over Syracuse, its next opponent and the next visitor to Colonials Arena, in CHA entering Friday.
#10/9 Robert Morris at #4/4 Colgate - Dec. 9Â
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Key Notes
Robert Morris last defeated the Raiders at Class of '65 Arena Nov. 22, 2011, a 5-2 triumph. The Colonials prevailed by scoring four power-play goals in a game for just the sixth time in program history, one shy of matching the single-game record the team had just set at Lindenwood Nov. 13, 2011.
RMU is coming off a split with College Hockey America (CHA) arch-rival Mercyhurst, the team it upset for its first-ever CHA Tournament title to end the 2011-12 season.
Elijah Milne-Price, the fourth NCAA goaltender to ten wins this season, posted a 1.01 GAA and a .962 save percentage for the series.
Amber Rennie scored the game-winner with 6:07 left in regulation last Saturday, making her the second RMU player with multiple GW's. She now has eight points (3 G, 5 A) over her last three series and three game-winning points in that span. Nine total points (5 G, 4 A) have come in the third or OT.
Rennie is one of three active Colonials with a goal against Colgate and one of only two with a PPG.
Brittany Howard is the only one with multiple points.
Howard earned her second straight CHA Player of the Month award Dec. 5, her second time doing so at RMU (Nov.-Dec. 2016). It was her fifth CHA honor this season, sixth career Player of the Month and seventh monthly award all-time. The top-line center led CHA with eight goals, 11 points, four power-play points, two game-winning goals, a plus-9 rating and 7.33 shots per game for November.
Lexi Templeman was concurrently named CHA Rookie of the Month. She led all CHA novices with three goals, four assists--including two game-winners--and seven points for November. Templeman enters December ahead of all CHA rookies with five goals and 11 points this season, and her three power play goals are also the most of any first-year player in the conference.
Robert Morris is No. 10 in the USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll and No. 9 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. The Colonials have been ranked in at least one major poll in each of the last 25 sets released.
RMU can improve its No. 10 Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) stead and its No. 9 PairWise Ranking with a win over Colgate (No. 3/2, respectively). Both sets impact NCAA Tournament seeding.
Chasing History
Brittany Howard, with 71 career goals, needs just three more to surpass her former teammate, Rebecca Vint '15, as RMU's all-time leader. They are the only two Colonials to ever top 70. Howard ended November on a five-game goal streak, her longest since the six-game run on which she went to begin the 2017-18 season. With 89 lifetime assists, she is tied for the most career helpers of any active NCAA player entering Friday. Howard hurdled Vint as the all-time points leader in Colonials history Oct. 8, and her 160 career points are the second-most nationally entering Friday. She ranks fourth in Division I with 17 goals and leads CHA with 28 points, topping D-I with three shorthanded goals and four GW's.
The next goal by
Amber Rennie will make her the eighth player in team history to hit 30 for her career. Her pivotal tally in the Dec. 2 win over Mercyhurst put her past 2005-08 teammates Morgan Beikrich and Megan Picnic for eighth on the career chart.
Jaycee Gebhard, who leads CHA with 15 assists, enters Saturday with 64 career points (25 G, 39 A). She needs two more to pass Cobina Delaney for ninth in Colonials history. Not far behind is
Kirsten Welsh, who became the program's leader in career points by a defender Nov. 3 and now has 63 points all-time (22 G, 41 A).
She's Out of My League
Brittany Howard shares the NCAA lead with three shorthanded goals and three game-winners versus teams out of conference, and her 17 points in such games are the fifth-most of any D-I player.
Jaycee Gebhard is tied atop Division I with 12 assists in non-conference play.
Amber Rennie leads the nation with a .462 shot percentage in non-conference games. RMU averages 4.00 goals per game against non-conference opponents, tied with Colgate for fifth nationally. It ranks eighth in Division I in goal differential in non-conference games (+12).
Elijah Milne-Price has posted a 1.54 goals-against average in non-conference play, which ranks tenth in Division I. Her .928 save percentage in such games is good for sixth in the NCAA among seniors. The Colonials have a .750 win percentage in non-conference contests, which is tied for eighth nationally.
The Defense Never Rests
Leah Carey, playing in her 100th career collegiate game, picked up the secondary assist on the decisive goal by
Amber Rennie versus Mercyhurst Dec. 2.
Kirsten Welsh opened the scoring with a power play goal set up by
Katherine Murphy. With that, the Robert Morris defense has combined for 11 goals and 50 points, ranking fourth in the NCAA and making it the top-scoring defensive unit in CHA. Welsh is tied for fifth in the nation in points by defensemen with 15 (6 G, 9 A), also the second-most nationally by an underclassman at her position.
Katherine Murphy blocked a game-high eight shots versus Mercyhurst Dec. 2, the most by any RMU player in a single game this season. The previous high was the seven blocked by
Maggie LaGue at Penn State Oct. 29. Murphy and LaGue currently share the lead in career assists by an RMU defender with 49 apiece.
Sudden Death
Robert Morris has gone 2-0-2 in overtime this season. Both OT winners belong to
Brittany Howard, the first two of her collegiate career. The Colonials have earned points in each of their last nine sudden-death appearances (3-0-6) dating back to 2016-17. Howard's 16 career GW's are the second-most in team history to Rebecca Vint's 18.
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