Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's hockey team took down Syracuse, winning both games of the series by a score of 4-2 and 3-2. The Colonials are now 6-6-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the CHA. Syracuse moves down to 3-9-1 in the 2023-24 campaign and are now 0-4-0 in conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED - GAME 1
Jumping out to a quick start, the Colonials peppered seven shots within the first five minutes of the opening frame.
Forechecking in Syracuse's defensive zone, graduate forward
Shailynn Snow stole the puck off a defenseman and found the back of the net through the goaltender's legs.
Two minutes later, the Orange tied up the game, cashing in on their first power play chance of the game.
After giving up their first goal of the game, in under a minute, RMU quickly responded on their next shift.
Drifting down the right wing, freshman
Janelle Evans entered the offensive zone with speed off a pass from
Gillian Thompson. She dished it off to
Morgan Giannone in front of the net. Fighting for good body position, Giannone snapped the puck in off Evans feed into the top left corner to bring the Colonials back up one.
At the end of a high-scoring opening period, the Colonials paced for 12 shots compared to the Orange's eight.
Heading into the middle frame, RMU found themselves on the penalty kill for the majority of the opening eight minutes.
RMU's penalty kill unit powered through the two penalties, shutting down the away side's man-up opportunities.
Leading the shorthanded group in battle,
Janelle Evans blocked four shots and goaltender
Emma Gorski stopped five shots across their two power plays.
Pushing through the game on defense, the Colonials finally got back to the offense. With about five minutes to go, within a span of 30 seconds, RMU possessed a dominant shift in the visitors end, unleashing six shots in a row and on the seventh,
Alaina Giampietro found the back of the net once again to give RMU a 3-1 lead.
With about two minutes left in the second period, RMU received another power play opportunity. Crashing the net and consistently posting chances, the Colonials threw seven shots towards net but couldn't cash in prior to the second intermission.
Entering the final period, Syracuse drew another penalty. Looking to make a comeback, Syracuse found some momentum, scoring their second power play goal of the night.
Following the goal, graduate netminder
Emma Gorski preserved her team's lead, stopping five more shots in the third.
As the clock showed two minutes remaining, Syracuse pulled their goalie to throw out the extra skater on the ice. Shutting down the Orange's final push, captain
Allyson Hebert broke free with the puck finding
Morgan Giannone up the ice to pass the puck in the empty net to seal the deal, winning 4-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED - GAME 2
Unlike yesterday's opening period, there were no goals through the first 20 minutes of play. RMU went 0-2 on their power play chances and Syracuse led in shots, 11-8.
In the second period the visitors scored first this time. Sarah Thompson gave the Orange their first lead of the series seven minutes into the middle frame.
Getting back to their game, the Colonials started to gain momentum. After allowing the opening tally, the home side over the next six minutes paced for seven shots and goaltender
Maggie Hatch made six key saves.
Gathering more opportunities,
Shailynn Snow cashed in for the Colonials, once again finding the net for RMU's first goal for the second night in a row.
After two periods, the score was set at a 1-1 tie.
Heading into the third period, RMU received a power play shortly into the final period. The Colonials weren't able to find the go-ahead goal with the advantage but posted five more shots, testing the Syracuse netminder.
Finally, in the ninth minute,
Madison Primeau scored against her former team. Off a pass from Chloe Puddifant and
Catriona Crarer, the junior forward slotted in the puck at the back door.
Not having the lead for long, the Orange clawed back to tie the game a minute and a half later. Kailey Langefels scored on the power play to bring the game back to a 2-2 draw.
Following the media timeout at the middle of the period,
Lindsey Smolen scored her first career goal at the perfect time. Working in front of the net Smolen redirected a shot in off a dish by
Kaitlyn Schooley.
Smolen's goal would hold on to be the game-winning tally. Hatch only had to make two more saves as RMU went on to win, 3-2, sweeping Syracuse.
TWO POINTS IN TWO GAMES
Across the two-game set, five Colonial players produced two points. Forward
Shailynn Snow and
Morgan Giannone each cashed in twice for two goals. And, on the assists,
Mya Neugent,
Kaitlyn Schooley and Chloe Puddifant each dished out two helpers.
GIAMPIETRO'S GOAL STREAK
From Strongsville, Ohio, freshman
Alaina Giampietro scored for the fifth consecutive game in Friday's match. After earning Hockey Commissioner Association and College Hockey America Rookie of the Month honors, the first-line winger continued her hot streak, sniping in her seventh goal of the season. On the year, she's currently sharing the team lead in points with her teammate
Morgan Giannone, totaling 13 points.
COLONIAL FIRSTS
During the second game of the series,
Lindsey Smolen recorded her first goal of her career at a vital time for the Colonials. Not only was it her first goal but it will also go down as her first game-winning score. A native of Crystal Lake, Ill., she's played in all 12 games for RMU this season. Registering their first career point of the season as well was freshman
Alyssa Rasmuson. Out of Moosomin, Saskatchewan, she dished out the secondary assist on Smolen's goal. And, sophomore
Calli Arnold posted her first career point in game two of the weekend, earning an assist. Arnold, a native of Dodsland, Saskatchewan has played eight career games now with time on the wing and at center.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Sophomore
Janelle Evans passed out one assist in the series but also blocked a team game-high six shots in the first game of the series. Leading the blue line Puddifant registered six blocks as well. The graduate defenseman also leads all Colonial blue liners with points, owning one goal and six assists. She's one point away from 50 career points now. In total, RMU consistently held possession in the offensive end, outshooting Syracuse 79-52. Both goaltenders
Emma Gorski and
Maggie Hatch each made 24 saves each in their start. For today's game, RMU performed solidly in the faceoff circle.
Catriona Crarer won a team-high 10 draws.
Calli Arnold stepped in and won eight of 13 and freshman
Lindsey Smolen won five of eight.
Madison Primeau also took four faceoffs and won all four.
CATCHING UP ON THE CHA
Currently, in the CHA standings, RMU sits in second place with a 3-1-0 conference record. Penn State ranks first with an unbeaten 4-0-0 record. The Colonials will face them on the road in the beginning of December. The whole conference is on a bye-week for next week and won't pick play back up till November 17. RMU's average of 2.75 goals-per-game ranks first across the CHA. And, pacing for 14.00 blocks a game on average ranks second best.
QUOTABLE
"Bringing Sticks Together to Pittsburgh is special. I couldn't have asked for more support from RMU, our coaching staff and this team. It's a privilege to be able to celebrate with my old teammates and new ones."
– Sophomore forward Madison Primeau
"We put together a great team effort. The coaching staff has helped us out a lot, preparing us for each game. I think we're building on our game each time and we want to keep it going."
– Freshman forward Alaina Giampietro
"It's good to take away four points from the series. Every game in the CHA, you know it's going to be a dogfight. We're expecting the same thing for every game moving forward. It'll be good to get a break next week. Earning the two wins is building our team's confidence."
– Head coach Logan Bittle
UP NEXT
RMU will now get two weeks off till their next set of games. On Friday, November 17 at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, November 18 at 3:00 p.m., the Colonials will host RIT for another CHA series.
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