PITTSBURGH -- The
Robert Morris women's hockey team ran out of juice offensively in a 2-1 loss to Minnesota State at the RMU Island Sports Center Saturday afternoon, but its leading scorer continued her climb up the NCAA scoring ladder.
Junior assistant captain
Jaycee Gebhard broke a scoreless tie with 10:34 remaining in the second period on an RMU power play by jamming away at a loose puck at the right side of the Mavericks net for her team-leading tenth goal of the season.
Through 16 games, the 5'3" Plenty, Saskatchewan native and reigning College Hockey America Player of the Month has taken sole possession of third place in the Division I scoring race. With 23 points in 2018-19, she sits just one back of the national lead currently shared by Elizabeth Giguere (Clarkson) and Emma Maltais (Ohio State).
Gebhard, meanwhile, built upon her NCAA lead in power play points. Her fourth special-teams tally of the year, the most in CHA, brought that total up to 12. She is one of only six players nationally with at least four power play goals.
Senior tri-captain
Amber Rennie, her former Notre Dame Hounds teammate, assisted on the goal, as did sophomore forward
Lexi Templeman. Templeman now has registered a point in seven of her past eight games, and her 12 helpers tie her for sixth in D-I.
Rennie, now with 42 career apples, needs only one more to tie Kelsey Thomas '13 for tenth in program history.
Gebhard also continues to chase Robert Morris history, having tied Kristen Miles '09 for sixth all-time with her 15th career power play goal. She nearly had another later in the second period, but MSU netminder Abigail Levy made a save along the goal line that withstood a lengthy video review.
Her nine-game point streak matches her career-high nine-game run Jan. 28-Mar. 4, 2017. She went on to win both the CHA Rookie of the Year and WHCAÂ (Women's Hockey Commissioners' Association) National Rookie of the Year awards shortly thereafter.
In addition, she maintained her national lead in faceoff wins (219) after going 9-7 from the dot Saturday.
Rookie goaltender
Arielle DeSmet made her third start of the campaign for the Colonials (6-7-3, 4-1-1) and finished with 18 saves. She carries a .921 save percentage and 1.49 goals-against average for the season.
Brittyn Fleming snuck a wrist shot under the crossbar to get the Mavericks (5-5-2, 2-5-1) even with 9:32 left in the third, and Rebekah Kolstad put a shot off DeSmet from distance that decided the game with 3:41 remaining.
Robert Morris will try to bounce back against No. 6 Cornell Nov. 23-24. Both opening faceoffs from Colonials Arena are scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET.
Admission to both games is $1.00 for fans arriving in their favorite jersey. Fans can visit the Island Sports Center lobby on gameday for the discounted tickets.
In addition, both games can be seen live on the CHA Digital Network (subscription required).
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