STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's hockey team returned to action with a decisive victory Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena, taking down the host Nittany Lions of Penn State by a final score of 3-1.
The win moves the Colonials to 16-9-2 overall on the season as well as 10-3-0 in College Hockey America play.
Maggy Burbidge potted two goals on the evening, while Emily Curlett scored her 12th power-play tally. Lexi Templeman finished with a pair of assists while Raygan Kirk stopped 22 of 23 shots on goal for the win.
Despite a nearly two-week long gap since their last game, RMU showed little sign of rust early on against PSU, taking advantage of an early power play opportunity to throw a lot of rubber at Chantel Burke and keep the pressure up.
Despite a pair of booming point shots from Lecavalier and Harley on the man advantage, PSU managed to escape an early hole with a solid kill.
Penn State soon found their legs, responding with a barrage of shots of their own that tested Kirk heavily.
Despite an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal through the opening 12 minutes, the freshman keeper stood tall for RMU, keeping it at zeroes despite the shot disparity.
Another PP opportunity for RMU nearly broke the stalemate, however a well-positioned Burke was there to smother a loose puck in the crease, preventing an aggressive Michaela Boyle from poking it through the wickets after crashing the crease.
Curlett would finally find the back of the net moments later after some good cycling on the man advantage, letting go of a hard wrister from the left circle for her 12th power-play goal of the season.
Another late PP chance nearly resulted in a 2-0 RMU lead, but some gritty shot blocking from the Nittany Lions kept it at 1-0 after 20.
The Colonials kept up the pressure in the second, however the PSU goaltending continued to be a thorn in their side and the biggest opposition to a 2-0 lead.
Kyleigh Hanzlik walked in all alone on the keeper, making a series of nice moves but Burke waited her out for a big save just two minutes into the second frame. Â
Despite RMU controlling play PSU continued to take penalties, putting the RMU man-advantage on the ice for the fourth time minutes later. Once again it was Burke who kept PSU from a multi-goal deficit, turning aside chances from Jaycee Gebhard and Templeman.
They would finally find their second tally at 13:29 after Burbidge tipped a shot from Mackenzie Krasowski into the back of the cage.
PSU would cut the lead in half midway through the third after an Izzy Heminger power-play shot found its way past Kirk to end her shutout bid and make it 2-1.
A final push for PSU put RMU on their heels late in the third, forcing some big saves out of Kirk and some even bigger shot blocks from the Colonials. Luckily they were up to the task, and a Burbidge empty-netter sealed a 3-1 victory on the road.
RMU returns to the ice tomorrow afternoon when they face their final showdown of the regular season against PSU at 2 p.m. They will remain omg the road the following weekend when they head up to Erie, Pa. for a CHA road battle against Mercyhurst.
