The No. 9 Robert Morris women’s team swept Lindenwood this weekend, beating the Lions 2-1 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday in St. Charles, Missouri.
The win on Friday clinched the team’s first ever College Hockey America regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the CHA Tournament. The team got two goals from first-year phenom Jaycee Gebhart, the second of which came late in the game as the Colonials sweated out the victory.
“It was an exciting, hard-fought game, and I guess in the grand scheme of things, probably fitting that in order to clinch [the regular-season title], it was one of those gutsy, gritty Colonials wins,” said head coach Paul Colontino.
Saturday’s win gave the Colonials 22 wins on the season, just two away from the team’s all-time record. It was also the 13th career shutout and second in three games for senior goaltender Jessica Dodds, who started both games of the weekend.
The Colonials have a bye to the semifinals of the CHA tournament and will face the lowest-seeded team that advances. That game will be played at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 3 at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, N.Y. The championship game will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Daniel Leavens is the 10th player in RMU history to score 100 points. — ALAN SAUNDERS
The men’s team beat Niagara, 6-2 in Lewiston, New York. Daniel Leavens had a goal and two assists for the Colonials. Leavens is the 10th Robert Morris player to score 100 points, and he passed 2016 alum Brandon Denham for tenth place on the team’s all-time scoring list. Of the Colonials’ 100-point scorers, seven have come in the last three years.
Alex Tonge had the game-winner on the power play as the Colonials went 3 for 10 with the man advantage. Leading scorer Brady Ferguson had a four-point night and senior netminder Dalton Izyk only had to make 17 saves to earn his second consecutive win.
The win clinched home-ice advantage in the second round of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs. Robert Morris is locked into the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Holy Cross in the quarterfinals of the AHC tournament. The three-game series will be at 84 Lumber Arena March 10 – 12. Faceoff time for that series is at 7:05 p.m.
