PITTSBURGH -- The Robert Morris University women's hockey team stayed on the winning track Saturday afternoon at the RMU Island Sports Center, dispatching College Hockey America rival Penn State 5-0 to sweep the weekend series.

The list of individual heroes had a representative in every class, what with senior captain Jaycee Gebhard factoring in on all five goals, junior defender Emily Curlett chipping in two more power-play points, sophomore Michaela Boyle scoring her first college hat trick and freshman Raygan Kirk earning her first NCAA shutout with 30 saves.

But the biggest takeaway from the two games against the Nittany Lions is that the Colonials, after battling through a winless October that featured three top-five ranked opponents, started their 20-game CHA schedule with a pair of resounding wins. 

Having won the past three CHA regular-season titles, the Colonials (4-5-1, 2-0-0 CHA) made a statement at the start of the annual double round-robin. After trailing 2-1 at the end of Friday's first period, RMU popped in nine consecutive goals to put the squeeze on Penn State (3-6-3, 0-2-0 CHA). 

Apologies to all the attacking prowess put on display Saturday, but Kirk's first RMU clean sheet stands out more than usual after a five-goal win. Her breakaway stop on Anna Promersberger in the first preserved a 1-0 lead, and a pair of strong saves on a driving Promersberger (again) in the second kept the Colonials ahead by two.

Kirk's key saves helped the Colonials prevail in low-stress fashion, especially once the power play got revved up in the second period. First, though, Boyle converted Gebhard's even-strength centering pass at 8:12, the third Gebhard-to-Boyle connection of the series. 

At 14:54, during RMU's second power play, Curlett bodied in Gebhard's shot-pass on a signature cut to the back-side post. If that looked familiar, so did seeing Curlett tee up a one-timer in the left circle at 17:30 of the second. The high drive deflected into the PSU net off Boyle, who once again planted herself in the vicinity of the opposing crease.

The Colonials finished 2 for 7 on the power play, marking the sixth time this season they've produced multiple PPGs in a single game. Curlett's two power-play points lifted her total to 10, two-thirds of her all-around offensive output this season.

Boyle's hat trick gave her a team-high nine goals on the season, just 10 games into her RMU career, but in terms of overall scoring Gebhard maintains the top spot with 22 total points. The senior center continued her rebound from a tough, scoreless series at Cornell last weekend, reaching five points in a game for the fourth time in her career. 

Gebhard put her full offensive skill set on display Saturday. She started by tidily dishing to Boyle from behind the net, setting up RMU's first goal just 29 seconds after opening faceoff. RMU's No. 2 all-time scorer did it herself for the second Colonials goal, stealing a Nittany Lions breakout and burying a wrist shot off the post and in at 12:01.

Gebhard's third point was just as impressive, as she calmly shuffled Lexi Templeman's centering pass to Boyle near the right post. The decision to pass was astute enough to give Boyle plenty of time to dust off the puck and toss it into a half-empty net.

Penn State actually outshot RMU 30-25, but the Colonials were simply more efficient with their scoring chances. Even factoring in the back-to-back shutout losses last weekend, RMU is averaging 3.4 goals over the opening 10 games. 

While they'd like to have a couple more wins to show for their overall performance, the Colonials are showing plenty of signs that they'll be challenging for another CHA championship when all's said and done. Plenty to go in that regard, but you can't beat their start to league play.