PITTSBURGH -- The
Robert Morris University women's hockey team is getting closer to an early signature win, but a tie had to do Friday night.
With the help of an opportunistic power play and solid 200-foot play late, the 10th-ranked Colonials overcame a two-goal deficit to chalk up a 3-3 draw against No. 4 Clarkson at the RMU Island Sports Center.
Dating back to last weekend's home set against second-ranked Minnesota, that's three straight games that RMU (2-2-1) has given a national power all it can handle.
"We work hard as a team and we have some skilled players," head coach
Paul Colontino said. "I like how our team's responding and finding out how good they could be. We had some great chances to win the game. Tomorrow we have to find another gear."
Junior defender and reigning College Hockey America Player of the Week
Emily Curlett put up another three points, while
Michaela Boyle and
Jaycee Gebhard chipped in two apiece to back up a career-high 39 saves from sophomore goalie
Arielle DeSmet.
But that description doesn't do justice to the twists and turns in this series opener -- Clarkson's first game in Pittsburgh since 2007. Due mainly to each side getting nine power plays, both teams can point to multiple moments where they could've seized a big non-conference victory.
"Hard to get a real good flow," Colontino said. "I thought our players did a great job responding to it. We had some adversity at key points in the game, some calls we might have complained about, but our players had no excuses."
Especially during a wild five-goal, 11-penalty second period, the Colonials seemed to keep cool heads. Back-to-back power-play conversions from former Clarkson forward Boyle (deflection at 3:11) and team captain Gebhard (wraparound at 5:15) erased a 2-0 lead for the visiting Golden Knights, who have won three national titles over the past six years.
When Curlett wired a wrister over Clarkson goalie Amanda Zeglen's blocker with seven minutes left in the second, the Colonials had their first lead of the night. RMU has now been on top in each of its first five games this season, earning two of those leads in comeback fashion.
"I think we battled pretty well through it," said senior defender
Sarah Lecavalier, referring to the penalty-laden nature of the game. "The scoreboard showed it as well. We control what we can control, and that's our game. We're taught not to think too much about it and roll with the punches."
Still, there's no debating RMU looked its best in the third period, responding after Clarkson's Rhyen McGill tied the score with her second goal of the game at 16:42 of the second.
They leaned on DeSmet heavily at times, but the Colonials battled Clarkson (3-1-1) to a territorial draw in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Freshman
Marah Wagner and Lecavalier each had prime scoring chances in the final five minutes, but couldn't find the range.
In overtime, the Golden Knights had a couple of decent opportunities, but the split result seemed fair by the end of the five-minute sudden-death period.
"We're coming together well and playing well against some of the best teams in the nation," said junior forward
Anjelica Diffendal, a Pittsburgh native. "We really battled hard in the third period, but we're not satisfied with it. Keep winning those battles, getting shots through and keep capitalizing on our power-play opportunities."
The Colonials will likely have to keep up their proclivity for blocking shots, too. After rejecting 48 Minnesota shots across the two games last weekend, RMU blocked 27 more Friday night. Curlett reached double digits for the second time this year, snuffing out 11 Clarkson attempts, while Lecavalier wasn't far behind with eight.Â
DeSmet likely appreciated the effort, since she bailed out her teammates a few times, too.Â
"We're good friends with our goalies," Lecavlalier said. "If we can save them a shot on net, then obviously we'll eat that puck. IÂ think it's trickling down to the rest of the team."
In the end, a tie beats the overtime loss RMU suffered last Friday against MInnesota, but it's not what the three-time defending CHA champs are after here in this challenging early-season schedule.
The Colonials will have an opportunity to get that signature triumph when these two ranked teams get together again at 3:05 p.m. Saturday.
"We can take good things from that game," Lecavalier said, "but we're going to come out hard tomorrow."
Â
