Justin Berl Photo/RMU Athletics
NEVILLE TWP.,PA- For the second time this weekend, the Robert Morris Colonials found themselves challenged by a determined Assumption Greyhound team at a critical moment of a game that could have turned against them, and regained control. Robert Morris turned in a resilient and yet sometimes dominant performance in their 4-2 win on Saturday afternoon at Clearview Arena in a game that saw them watch a three goal lead evaporate in the blink of an eye before they found their game in a third period that saw them shut down their opponents while adding a crucial insurance goal.
“I thought our grit was very good,” Colonials head coach Logan Bittle said. “In the second period I thought we got away from it a bit once again and I challenged them in between the second and third and they came out great, only giving up five shots and spent very little time in the defensive end and that’s how you win games. “
A key contributor in the win was captain Alaina Giampietro who got the Colonials off and running when she found a loose puck in the offensive zone and proceeded to put the moves on starting Greyhound net minder Jayden Weiser, firing a backhander that lit the lamp 7:22 minutes into the game. However, she wasn’t done just yet. With her team holding a precarious 3-2 lead at the outset of the third frame, Giampietro took a pass from Kaitlyn Schooley in the slot and buried it for her second goal of the game and third of the weekend.
“She’s a leader number one,” Bittle remarked, speaking to what Giampietro meant to his side. “The girls feed off her energy and ability to put the puck in the net. She had goals to get us started and give us a little bit of room so that was big.”
In the Colonial net was Lucy Phillips who stopped 19 of the 21 shots she faced, garnering her first win of the season with a solid performance.
“I thought she played good,” Bittle said. “She made the saves that she needed to. There’s probably one that she’d like to have back but at the end of the day I thought she was great. She’s a great complimentary player to Maggie (Hatch), we’ve got two goalies that we really like.”
The Colonials took the momentum from Giampietro’s early goal and rolled it through a first period that saw them rack up a 19-5 shot advantage while earning three power plays and spending plenty of time in the Greyhound end. They were rewarded for the effort with two more goals in the frame as Taylor Storey took a sharp angle feed from Thalia D’Elia while parked in front of the Greyhound net and tipped it home for her first goal of the campaign at 8:07. Meanwhile, Shayne Desjardins beat Weiser at 16:55 with a hard wrister from the right circle to put her team up 3-0 heading into the locker room.
However, the Greyhounds fought back with two power play goals early in the second period off the sticks of Rachel Aergerter and Natalie Joiner to pull them back into the contest. Robert Morris was able to turn the tide towards the later stages of the second frame. And then just as they had done the night before, managed to completely turn the tide, showing a collective determination, much to the delight of their head coach.
“They’ve got grit.” Bittle added when asked about his team’s play on the weekend. “They got challenged a couple of times and that’s something that we do with them every day, challenge them and it’s their job to answer that challenge and get better every day. We’ve done that through the first three weeks of practice and then we had two challenges Friday and Saturday and they accepted both of those and broke right through them.”
The Colonials travel to Minnesota next weekend to take on the Bemidji State Beavers in a non-conference matchup.
