BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Robert Morris University women's hockey team punched its ticket to the 2020 College Hockey America Championship Saturday afternoon in Buffalo with a 5-2 win over Syracuse in the semi-finals at Harbor Center Friday evening.
The Colonials erased a 2-0 lead against the Orange, scoring five straight goals including two from captain Jaycee Gebhard en route to their fourth consecutive appearance in the CHA Championship Game. Â
All three Colonials seniors turned in multi-point performances, as Gebhard was joined by Sarah Lecavalier (3A) and Natalie Marcuzzi (1G, 1A) on the scoresheet to lead RMU to victory. Raygan Kirk made 17 saves in goal to earn the win.
RMU nearly hit paydirt less than two minutes into the game, catching Syracuse goaltender Allison Small out of position near the top of the crease after some slick passing between a pair of Colonials, however Courtney Kollman rang her shot off the pipe as the Orange avoided an early disaster.
Another close call a few shifts later saw the Colonials almost crack Small again, but Marcizzi pushed two shots wide of the cage in quick succession as the Colonials continued to relentlessly hunt the opening goal.
Kirk was tested in her own crease as well, turning aside a hard drive to the net from Kristen Siermachesky after the winger slipped around a defender on a quick rush down the right wing, but the freshman stood tall on the initial shot and held her ground as a trio of Orange attempted to poke the puck loose from under her pads.
Despite the early run of scoring chances, defense quickly became the name of the game as RMU pulled out a big penalty kill fell then back on their defensive structure to keep the Orange counter-attack at bay.
Some excellent stick positioning managed to keep Syracuse bottled up for much of first, however they finally managed to break through with 52 seconds remaining in the opening frame as Lindsay Eastwood took advantage of a scramble in front of Kirk to poke home the loose puck and make it 1-0.
The Orange doubled it up just 1:16 into the second, picking up right where they left off after Mae Batherson blasted a one-timer from the left point over Kirk's pad for a 2-0 lead. The Colonials, despite carrying play for they better part of the game, suddenly found themselves down a pair in just over two minutes of actual game time.
Undaunted, the RMU attack continued to press, peppering Small with chance after chance. Point-blank stops on Gebhard and Michaela Boyle kept the deficit at two as an urgent Colonials forecheck started to tilt the ice more and more every shift.
The dam finally burst for Small and the Orange defense, as a Colonials attack that had dominated much of the period finally cashed in with a pair of quick scores.
Gebhard put RMU on the board on the power-play, taking a beautiful feed from Lexi Templeman at the side of the net before swiping one into a wide-open cage.
Just 44 seconds later, Kollman pulled RMU even after walking into the Syracuse zone all alone and slipping a quick shot past Small as a re-energized Colonials squad began to take over the game.
Emily Curlett punctuated the outburst, giving RMU their first lead of the game just four minutes later when she let go of a rocket of a slapshot from the blue line that handcuffed Small, capping off a run of three straight unanswered goals to end the second for Robert Morris.
With 20 minute separating them from a date with Mercyhurst in the CHA Championship, RMU put together their most complete period of there afternoon, locking down the Orange and denying them anything in the way of quality looks.
Marcuzzi gave the Colonials some much needed breathing room seven minutes into the final frame, slipping one past Small near the side of the net as the Colonials completely flip the game on its head with a four-goal outburst.
Gebhard's second of the game a minute later put the cherry on top of an emphatic semi-final win for RMU.
They will go for their first tournament championship since 2017 when they face off against Mercyhurst tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. in the CHA Championship Game.Â
