ERIE – The final chapter of the 2023-24 Colonials season was written at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Sunday as Robert Morris fell to Mercyhurst 6 – 1 in game three of the CHA Semifinals.
The Lakers move on to a matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, March 3 in a rematch of the 2023 College Hockey America Championship. Face-off from the Pegula Ice Arena in University Park will be at 2:00 p.m.
The Colonials opened up the contest with an onslaught that led to several prime opportunities but were unable to solve Lakers starter Ena Nystrom. Mercyhurst began to build momentum and midway through the frame Kylee Mahoney pulled a puck around and tucked it past Maggie Hatch to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Chanel Ste-Croix received a pass from Sofia Ljung in the slot that the senior fired while falling down to extend the lead to 2-0. Thea Johansson’s goal late in the frame brought the teams to the ice cut with the score 3-0 in favor of the home team.
Graduate netminder Emma Gorski relieved the sophomore Hatch at the beginning of the second frame and Colonials once again jumped all over the Lakers un the opening minutes until a breakaway goal by Sofia Nuutinen at 6:28 slid Mercyhurst into full control of the contest. Ste-Croix extended the lead to 5-0 ten minutes later.
Shailynn Snow scored 7:36 into the final frame to get Robert Morris on the board, but it was to no avail as Nystrom shut the foot on a relentless Colonials third period push. Upson added another goal with an empty net goal with less than three minutes remaining.
A RARITY
Since the inception of the CHA the league has sparingly utilized multi-game series to decide the postseason winner, and exclusively in the semifinal round when used. There was only one other game that went to the additional game – a 2016 matchup between Robert Morris and Lindenwood.
The Colonials won that contest on the back of 2019 graduate Lauren Bailey, who posted a .971 save percentage over the final two-plus games to best future Olympian Nicole Hensley. The Colonials also received two goals and four points from captain Ashley Vesci (’16) in the contest.
QUOTABLE
“Obviously the end result was not want we wanted,” Head Coach Logan Bittle said. “But this group of athletes should have nothing but pride for what they were able to accomplish this season. They fought until the end like they have all year. They all did a wonderful job representing RMU and the RMU hockey family in our first year back.”
UP NEXT
Robert Morris completed their 2023-24 season and will return in the fall to the Island Sports Center for the 2024-25 season.
