POTSDAM, N.Y. -- The
Robert Morris women's hockey team braced itself for the stiffest of competition in its first road trip of the regular season, and two-time NCAA Division I champion Clarkson provided just that in edging the Colonials, 4-2, at Cheel Arena Friday night.
Although the skill of the top-ranked Golden Knights (3-0-0) was on display throughout, the work ethic and tenacity of RMU (1-2-0) was as well. The two-time College Hockey America (CHA) regular-season champs ended their season-opening power play drought with a pair of goals from the prolific top-line duo of senior tri-captain
Amber Rennie and junior assistant captain
Jaycee Gebhard.
With 7:45 to go in regulation and heavy traffic in front of the Clarkson net, Gebhard found Rennie's rebound and put the latent puck into the exposed cage for her first of the season before being knocked down in the crease by a pair of defenders to pull Robert Morris within one.
The Colonials were awarded two more power plays a little over two minutes apart and kept the pressure on, outshooting the Knights 18-3 in the third period in search of an equalizer. However, Kassidy Sauve, seeing the Colonials for the first time since transferring from Ohio State, hung tough with 30 saves, and Elizabeth Giguere finished a nifty passing play with 15 seconds left in the game.
Robert Morris was just as strong on the flip side of the special teams battle, going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and limiting Clarkson to four shots on goal. The Colonials' PK, which went through its share of peaks and valleys in 2017-18, is 10-for-11 (90.9%) to start the 2018-19 campaign.
On a weekend with several nationally-ranked teams facing each other, RMU raised eyebrows with its fast start. Gebhard carried the puck behind the Clarkson goal with T.T. Cianfarano in the box for slashing, and her backdoor pass found an open Rennie, who put it through Sauve's five-hole 3:45 into the first period.
Loren Gabel, the reigning Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Player of the Year and a 2018 Patty Kazmaier Award finalist, tied the game 65 seconds later with a great individual effort. She beat senior goaltender
Lauren Bailey five minutes into the second, set up by Giguere, to give the Golden Knights the lead, and Taylor Turnquist tacked on what proved to be the game-winner just over two minutes later.
Bailey, despite taking the loss, settled down nicely to keep the Colonials alive and finished with 23 saves.
Meanwhile, the super Saskatchewanians continued their climb up the RMU all-time scoring charts. Gebhard and Rennie remain tied for seventh in school history with 36 career goals apiece, and Rennie has tied Kristen Miles '09 and Kelsey Thomas '13 for eighth all-time in points, with 75.
In addition, Rennie took sole possession of tenth in program history with her ninth career power-play tally. Gebhard tied original Colonial Megan Picinic '09 for seventh all-time with her 13th.
Robert Morris gets another crack at No. 1 Clarkson Saturday afternoon, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN Plus (U.S. viewers). International audiences can watch live on Stretch Internet (subscription required).
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