Following nine straight road games, the Robert Morris women’s hockey team returned to the Island Sports Center for their first College Hockey America (CHA) matchup against Syracuse.

The Orange got off to an early start when Nicole Ferrara beat junior goalie, Kristen DiCiocco on the powerplay for the first goal of the game. Midway through the first, the Colonials thought they tied the game, however it was disallowed by the referees.

After the first period, the Colonials never looked back. Senior assistant captain, Brianna Delaney, found Thea Imbrogno who beat the Syracuse netminder for her seventh goal of the season.

With 26 seconds remaining in the second period, Brianna and Cobina Delaney teamed up to assist on Kelsey Thomas’ seventh goal of the season. The goal turned out to be the game winner, and marked the second time in her career that Thomas recorded a game winning goal.

DiCiocco, and the rest of the Colonials defense, played shutdown hockey for the entire third period, and held on for the win.

The Colonials’ got themselves into penalty trouble early in the game, however they successfully killed seven of their eight penalties on the day. Diciocco turned away 26 shots for her ninth win of the season.

With the win the Colonials move to 11-2-1 on the season, and 1-0 in CHA play. Syracuse dropped to 8-11, and 0-1 in CHA play.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow for the second game of the series. Opening puck drop is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Island Sports Center.