NEVILLE TWP., Pa.– It is a weekend that the Robert Morris women’s hockey team (4-2, 4-2 CHA) can put in the rearview mirror as they were swept by Penn State (6-1-1, 6-1-1 CHA) following a game two loss, 4-1.
It was an afternoon full of adversity as the Colonials faced several extended penalty kills, along with a missed penalty call, that led to a Penn State goal and a disallowed goal off of the stick of Marah Wagner.
“All sorts of things happen during the course of a game, good things, bad things, but we have to be able to handle them and play through them,” head coach Paul Colontino said.
Game two began differently than the contest the night before as Penn State struck first. Freshman Maeve Connolly collected the biscuit in the high slot as she moved into the right-wing circle where she curled in and put one past Arielle DeSmet’s blocker side.
“I thought we came out great in the first period and we were executing some of the smaller things that we were trying to execute,” Colontino said. “It was tough to go down that first goal, again to their credit they capitalized and scored a nice goal.”
The Nittany Lions, similar to game one, did not let off the gas pedal once they got their first marker as Jessica Adolfsson put them up 2-0 with a beautiful point shot that developed off of an offensive zone faceoff win.
While Penn State never looked back after gaining a two-goal lead, the Colonials cut the deficit to one on the power play just under two minutes after the Nittany Lions extended their lead.
On the power play, Emilie Harley let a shot go from the point that took an opportune bounce off of the end boards as the puck slid right to the right-wing circle where Wasyn Rice buried it into a yawning cage.
“I liked the resilience and I liked the fight,” Colontino said.
After a tally on the advantage, the Colonials went down a skater halfway through the period which led to another point shot for Adolfsson that was ripped home to give the Nittany Lions another two-goal lead.
As the Colonials once again attempted to mount a comeback, all life was lost after a net-front scramble saw Marah Wagner send one behind Josie Bothun, however, Bothun’s blocker came off during the play, which resulted in a no-goal call.
“I thought the fight we had was very good and I thought we were kind of on a little bit of a roller coaster, we had some highs and we had our lows,” Colontino said. “Getting on the board and then having that taken away is a huge momentum swing.”
Robert Morris was given one last chance late in the game as Penn State took two consecutive penalties, but the Nittany Lions wiped away any opportunities as Kiara Zanon scored an empty-netter that sealed the deal.
While the Colonials were outeaten throughout the weekend, Colontino saw some aspects of RMU’s game that can be worked on.
“We’ve just got to keep working at the little things,” Colontino said. “We really got exposed in areas I think we needed to see in order to get better.”
The Colonials will look to begin a new win streak when they take on Mercyhurst (3-1, 3-1 CHA) in a two-game home-and-home set this coming Friday and Saturday.
