ERIE, Pa. – In the first game of the CHA semifinal series,
Maggie Hatch's first career shutout and RMU's offense creating four goals in the third period lead the Colonials to a 5-0 victory, to take a 1-0 lead in the series. RMU is now 15-17-1 overall on the year and Mercyhurst is 18-16-1.
1st PERIOD
- Friday afternoon's game started off slow as neither side scored in the opening period.
- Mercyhurst led in shots on goal, 12-8.
2nd PERIOD
- During the middle frame, the Colonials started to gain momentum as they outshot the Lakers, 18-9.
- Earning their second and final power play of the game, RMU got to work, scoring before time expired with the extra skater. Off a faceoff win, the puck came back to defenseman
Chloé Puddifant. She faked a shot and found
Alaina Giampietro skating in on goal. Instead of taking a shot, she threw a pass to the tape of
Shailynn Snow in front of the net, burying the puck to give RMU a 1-0 lead.
3rd PERIOD
- In the final period,
Jersey Phillips scored against her former team, 32 seconds in to kill any momentum that Mercyhurst had. After claiming a 2-0 lead, the Colonials held on strong to their lead and netminder
Maggie Hatch was flawless in net, stopping 15 shots in the third period.
- Over five minutes of time late in the third period, RMU poured the offense on, scoring three more times.
- Off a long offensive shift, the third line was rewarded as
Mya Neugent down low set up
Courtney Hall in front of the net to make it 3-0.
- Down by three goals, the Lakers decided to pull their goalie. Moments later,
Alaina Giampietro passed in the empty net goal.
- And, to finish it off, freshman
Laura Eustace with about two minutes left in the game made it 5-0 to secure RMU's first win in the series.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Freshmen
Alaina Giampietro and
Thalia D'Elia led the squad in shots with five a piece. In the +/- department, seven players finished with a +2. Defensively, captain
Wasyn Rice blocked a team-high four shots to bring her season total to 67 which is second behind to
Allyson Hebert's conference leading 70 blocks. Also, today's win marks head coach
Logan Bittle's first playoff win as a head coach.
CAREER DAY
With their 5-0 playoff win, three Colonials reached milestone's or career firsts in their collegiate careers. Posting a perfect performance, freshman goaltender
Maggie Hatch stopped all 36 shots she faced, registering her first career shutout. This is her 16
th, 30+ save performance which leads all CHA goaltenders. Hatch officially recorded the 21
st shutout in CHA postseason history. Scoring the game-winning goal and dishing out one assist, graduate forward
Shailynn Snow officially reached 100 points in her career. From Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Snow owns a team-high six power play goals and has produced 13 goals and 12 assists this season in 31 games. In 148 career games, she owns 36 goals and 64 assists. And, a native of Riverview, New Brunswick, freshman
Laura Eustace netted in her first career goal in her first conference playoff game.
PERSISTENT PRODUCTION
Both Snow and Giampietro continued their point streaks from the regular season into the postseason:
Also, making an impact on the scoresheet again today was senior forward
Mya Neugent. She's paced for four goals and two assists in her last five games. Assistant captain
Chloé Puddifant also owns seven assists across her last seven games with a helper on Snow's game-winner, and
Courtney Hall holds one goal and five assists in her last five appearances after scoring one goal and one assist against Mercyhurst.
UP NEXT
RMU will return back to the Mercyhurst Ice Center tomorrow for the second game of the series against the Lakers for a 2:00 PM puck drop. With a win Saturday afternoon, RMU will advance and compete in the 2024 CHA Final on Saturday, March 2.
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