ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The #19 Robert Morris Colonials fell to RIT 4-3 Sunday evening at the Gene Polisseni Center, dropping their record to 14-7 (10-5 AHA).
Nick Prkusic led the Colonials offensively with two points (1G, 1A) in the loss.
Nick Lalonde earned the first good look of the game for the Colonials, taking a feed near the blue line from Justin Addamo after Addamo managed to knock a breakout pass out of the air to cause a turnover.
Despite the great feed, Lalonde's rip was calmly gloved down by Ian Andriano to keep RMU from an early advantage.
The lethal power-play duo of Will Calverley and Elijah Gonsalves connected to give RIT the lead less than five minutes in after Calverley's spinning feed to the slot connected with Gonsalves, who tapped it home to make it 1-0.
A few more huge stops from Andriano followed as RMU pushed back including two on a Colonials power play to deny Lalonde and Santeri Hartikainen on one-timers.
A penalty-filled first led to RMU getting its third power play of the game, and just seconds in they finally converted after Nick Prkusic redirected a point shot from Nick Jenny in the slot that beat Andriano under the pads to tie it at 1-1.
The Colonials did well to stifle RIT in the second, preventing them from gaining the zone with possession and shutting down passing lanes as both squads tightened up defensively.
Despite taking away time and space from the Tigers, they managed to go up 2-1 when a shot from far out careened around a maze of bodies in front, deflecting off of Kobe Walker's stick and just trickling past West.
RMU continued to pressure the RIT breakout despite giving up the goal, and soon enough they were rewarded for the hard work after a broken play led to a turnover around the RIT net and Grant Hebert managed to tuck home a loose puck just between Andriano's skate and the near post.
Another turnover in the neutral zone by RIT moments later helped RMU restore the lead as a 2-on-1 with Hartikainen and Randy Hernandez ended with the freshman wiring a perfectly-placed shot high glove to put RMU back on top, 3-2.
Much in the same way the game shifted with two quick Colonials goal in the second, a similar scenario for RIT in the third helped them reestablish a lead.
Ryan Nicholson evened it up at 3-3 with a seeing eye shot from the point from far out that beat West before a nice passing sequence between Calverley and Nick Bruce made it a 4-3 RIT lead just 54 seconds later.
A late push for RMU including one final power play opportunity failed to yield results as the Colonials suffered their second straight loss.
SCORING PLAYS
Gonsalves, 3:48, 1st (PP) - Assists: Calverley, Hamacher
Prkusic, 17:14, 1st (PP) - Assists: Jenny
Walker, 8:57, 2nd - Assists: Willett, Bruce
Hebert 12:24, 2nd - Assists: Lalonde
Hernandez, 13:12, 2nd - Assists: Hartikainen, Prkusic
Nicholson, 6:58, 3rd - Assists: Laskosky, Traptow
Bruce, 7:52, 3rd - Assists: Calverley, Walker
QUICK HITS
Nick Prkusic led RMU with two points…Prkusic currently leads RMU in scoring with 23 points…First back-to-back regulation AHA losses all year for RMU
NEXT UP
RMU closes out the regular season this Thursday when they host Mercyhurst for Senior Day at Clearview Arena at 5:00 p.m.
