Inconsistent play has plagued Robert Morris for much of the 2017-18 season, with head coach Derek Schooley continually searching for 60 minutes of complete effort.
The Colonials seemed to get that with a home sweep of AIC last weekend, but it may have been a case of one step forward, one step back, as the Colonials gave up three goals in a seven-minute span in the third period on Saturday and let a one-goal lead turn into a 6-3 loss and a weekend sweep at the hand of the Bentley Falcons.
After Michael Louria scored his third goal in as many games to give Robert Morris a 3-2 lead at 2:56 of the third period, Brett Orr, Drew Callin, Michael Boyd and Luke Santerno all found the twine behind Francis Marotte, who tied a career high with five goals allowed.
Special teams were a weakness all weekend for the Colonials (5-9-1, 5-7-1). After allowing a pair of power-play goals to start the weekend in a 2-0 hole on Friday, they did the same thing on Saturday as Matt Riggleman and Kyle Schmidt set Bentley (3-7-3, 3-6-3) up with an early lead.
The Colonials went 1 for 5 on the power play and also allowed a shorthanded goal as part of Bentley’s late-game outburst.
Robert Morris evened things up in the second period with a power-play goal from Alex Tonge and Ryley Risling’s second career tally. Freshman defenseman Nick Jenny, playing in his first collegiate game, assisted on Risling’s goal for his first NCAA point.
The Colonials have an idle week before playing a home-and-home series with Penn State on Dec. 8 and 9. The Friday night contest will be play at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh with a 7:35 p.m. start. The two teams will meet at Pegula Ice Arena in State College at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
