ERIE, Pa. -- An unsurprisingly chippy conference opener between the premier rivals of College Hockey America left the Robert Morris women's hockey team on the short end of a war of special teams attrition.

In their first meeting since the 2018 CHA Tournament Final and 61st all-time, Mercyhurst rallied past the Colonials for a 4-2 win before a crowd of 1,072 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center Friday night. The teams combined for 28 penalty minutes as a pair of power play tallies sparked the Lakers (3-4-0, 3-0-0).

Robert Morris (2-5-0, 0-1-0) came out firing, eventually outshooting the hosts 12-11 in the first period, and for the second game in a row, secondary scoring got RMU off on the right foot. Sophomore forward Emilie Harley got her first goal of the season and first since Oct. 20, 2017 at Brown 8:07 into the contest for a 1-0 lead after the versatile Colonials defense had applied offensive pressure.

Junior Sarah Lecavalier picked up a secondary assist on Harley's goal, her first point since switching to the blue line before the beginning of the 2018-19 season.

The Colonials not only doubled their advantage, but also compelled Lakers coach Mike Sisti to call his timeout with just over nine minutes left in the period. Another second-year forward, Lexi Templeman, got her first of the campaign after being bumped up to the top line by head coach Paul Colontino.

Amber Rennie accounted for the primary assist, which put her past Kelsey Thomas '13 and original Colonial Kristin Miles '09 for sole possession of eighth place on the all-time Robert Morris scoring chart (76 points).

Things seemed even more promising for RMU when fellow senior tri-captain Kirsten Welsh was credited with the secondary apple. Dating back to the 2016-17 season, the first of two straight CHA regular-season championship runs by the Colonials, they were unbeaten in 21 of 24 games in which Welsh registered a point entering Friday.

An uncharacteristically tough night for their penalty kill, which had come into the weekend with an 89.5% success rate, proved to be their undoing. Mercyhurst began turning the tide when Emily Pinto deflected a puck past senior goaltender Lauren Bailey on the back end of a two-player advantage with just under six minutes to go in the first.

Bailey would settle in to make 22 saves, one shy of matching her high on the young season, but she and her teammates saw their lead disappear for good when Alexa Vasko made it a 2-2 game with 8:28 remaining in the second.

RMU found itself behind the eight ball when Sarah Quaranta was assessed a double-minor for body checking and boarding with just 12 seconds until the ice cut. The Lakers wasted little time cashing in, with Samantha Fieseler beating Bailey 45 seconds into the third period.

Sarah Hine made sure it stood up as the game-winner by getting a short-handed marker with 14:50 left in regulation. It was the first short-handed goal conceded by the Colonials since the 11:29 mark of the second period in their Oct. 1, 2016 season opener at Providence.

Robert Morris will go for the split Saturday afternoon at the MIC, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EDT.

Once again, the game can be seen live on the CHA Digital Network (subscription required).

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