ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- While the Robert Morris women's hockey team continues to develop chemistry on offense, it is re-establishing an identity as one of the toughest defensive squads in College Hockey America, to say nothing of the rest of the country.

The Colonials (5-5-1, 3-1-1) extended their unbeaten streak to four games by grinding down RIT for a 3-1 win in CHA action at the Gene Polisseni Center Friday night. Although another reputable goaltender gave her team a chance to steal a series opener from RMU, its patience, particularly on special teams, paid off for its ninth straight victory over the Tigers (1-5-3, 0-1-0) and 12th in their past 13 meetings.

Lauren Bailey, the reigning CHA Goalie of the Week, made goals by fellow seniors Kirsten Welsh and Amber Rennie stand up with her second consecutive 17-save effort. Bailey has now allowed just three even-strength goals over her last six appearances in net.

Junior forward Jaycee Gebhard, the newly anointed CHA Player of the Month for October, added an empty-netter and came away with nine draws to bring her NCAA-leading faceoff win total to 148. She continued to click with sophomore Lexi Templeman, who assisted on all three Robert Morris tallies.

Terra Lanteigne, the conference's Goalie of the Month, kept the Colonials offense at bay throughout a fluid first period. RMU attempted 31 shots in the opening frame, but Lanteigne turned aside all 15 that made it on goal.

The second period, initially, followed a script all too familiar for Robert Morris in openers, with an overwhelmed opponent weathering a storm and capitalizing on an infrequent lapse in poise by the Colonials.

Gebhard was sent off for tripping with 8:23 gone by, though, fortunately, a potential 5-on-3 for the Tigers, with Emilie Harley also in the sin bin, was negated by a coincidental embellishment call against Mallory Rushton. Still, RIT got on the board first, as Taylor Baker blasted a shot from center point past Bailey with 10:28 left in the second.

This time, RMU, which won a Friday game for the first time this season, rewrote the script. The Colonials got a power play of their own by virtue of a body-checking minor against Rushton, and after Gebhard won an offensive-zone faceoff, Maggie LaGue teed up Welsh at the left point, and she elevated a one-timer past Lanteigne for her fourth goal of the season, tying the game with 5:40 remaining in the period.

Dating back to the 2016-17 season, Robert Morris is unbeaten in 24 of the last 28 games in which Welsh has registered a point.

Rennie collected what would prove to be her eighth career game-winner, moving her into a tie with original Colonial Megan Picinic '09 for fourth in RMU history, just 2:23 later. Templeman, deep in Tiger territory, made a backhand pass to the Notre Dame Hounds product behind the net, and she caught Lanteigne off guard with a wraparound maneuver for her third of the year and a 2-1 lead.

The Colonials would have their character tested in the third. They killed off another penalty to Harley, then RIT did, in fact, receive a two-player advantage after all when Caitlyn Sadowy was called for slashing with 5:47 left in regulation and Gebhard for cross-checking nine seconds after.

With shot blocks by Welsh (two) and Rennie, and a bit of puck luck thanks to one of the posts behind Bailey, the visitors persevered, and Gebhard, from just inside the blue line, snuck one through the legs of a backchecking Madison Itagaki to cement the victory in the final 12 seconds.

Gebhard moved into a fifth-place tie in the Division I scoring race with her seventh goal of 2018-19, giving her 14 points. Meanwhile, RMU has successfully killed 23 of its last 24 penalties against RIT dating back to last year's season series.

The Colonials will face the Tigers again at 1:00 p.m. EDT from the Polisseni Center Saturday. Once again, the game can be seen live on the CHA Digital Network (subscription required).

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