PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's hockey team suffered its first loss of the season Friday night, falling 3-2 to Penn State at Clearview Arena.
The loss moves RMU to 4-1 overall on the year.
After a brief feeling out period for both squads to start the game, things heated up in a big hurry when Robert Morris got on the board less than seven minutes into the opening frame of action.
Marah Wagner picked up her second of the year on a nice zone entry from Joelle Fiala, crisscrossing in the slot with the center before picking up a nifty drop pass and driving to the net for a backhander that snuck under the glove of Josie Bothun.
The lead would be short-lived, however.
Just over five minutes later, PSU evened things up seconds into their second power play of the night when a sharp-angle shot basically parallel to the goal line from Amy Dobson slipped through the crease, deflecting off Raygan Kirk's pad and into the net.
A very even first came to a close without any further scoring as the Colonials went into the locker rooms down 9-8 in shots on goal.
Kirk came up huge again as the second opened up, stoning Kiara Zannon on a shorthanded breakaway before another stop on Carrie Byrnes coming down the left wing minutes later.
Bothun was dialed in for the Nittany Lions, matching Kirk's effort save for save including several off of a chaotic scramble at the net mouth with Joelle Fiala and Kyleigh Hanzlik buzzing.
With time and space at a premium the goaltending dual continued. One last flurry of saves in the PSU offensive zone yielded nothing for RMU as time came to a close on a scoreless second frame.
Penn State finally broke the stalemate 1:27 into the third when a perfectly placed shot from Rachel Weiss beat Kirk high glove side to put RMU behind in a game for just the second time all season.
A 3-1 goal from Julie Gough put RMU on their heels briefly, however a huge goal from a sharp angle off Michaela Boyle's stick cut the gap back down to one with just over half a frame left to play.
Despite a final push the Colonials couldn't find the equalizer as time ran out own their first loss of the season.
SCORING PLAYS
Wagner, 6:13, 1st - Assists: Fiala, Hanzlik
Dobson, 11:06, 1st (PP) - Assist: Uihlein, Gangarosa
Weiss, 1:27, 3rd - Assists: Byrnes
Gough, 6:59, 3rd - Assists: Byrnes, Adolfsson
Boyle, 9:30, 3rd - Assists: Marcovsky
QUICK HITS
First loss of the season for RMU…Colonials power play finished 0-4 on the night…Boyle scored her team-leading third goal of the season…Raygan Kirk made 27 saves in goal
QUOTABLES
"Penn State has some really skilled players and I thought they did a real nice job of playing a full 60 minutes. We always talk about how in a game like this, things get very tight defensively and today was a good example of that. There weren't a ton of break downs on either side, but credit to them they got a couple odd-man rushes and they made good on them. That can be the difference sometimes." - Head Coach Paul Colontino
NEXT UP
The Colonials finish off the series against Penn State tomorrow afternoon when they host the Nittany Lions at 2 p.m. at Clearview Arena.
