NEVILLE TWP., Pa. — If there’s one quote that is the ongoing slogan of the 2017-18 Robert Morris Colonials, it is “one game at a time.”
A mere 16 hours after being handed a lopsided loss at the hands of No. 5 Ohio State on Friday, Brittany Howard fired a wrist shot during a 5-on-3 that beat Buckeyes goaltender Kassidy Sauve top corner and causing a full-team pile up at center ice with a 3-2 overtime victory at center ice.
For the Colonials, it was a win-lose weekend on special teams, missing all seven opportunities on Friday and their first five on Saturday. When Ohio State forward Charly Dahlquist took down a Colonials forward along the boards, the Colonials received twelve seconds of 5-on-3 powerplay time on the call. Paul Colontino took the opportunity to use his timeout.
“We talked a little bit about the 5-on-3 we had,” Colontino said. “We were just rolling and finding some shooting lanes. That was it, keeping it simple, doing what we were doing. We had a ton of looks on our five-on-threes, we had some back door plays we didnt bury on.”
Howard took the opportunity to secure her 71st career goal, and secure the team’s victory over the second-highest ranked opponent under Colontino and highest since a win over then-No. 4 Mercyhurst on Dec. 8, 2014.
“Its huge to get that overtime goal with the pressure,” Colontino said. “It was a heck of a shot by Brittany. She’s just a clutch player.”
In a series in which special teams dominated the headlines, it was Robert Morris taking the one chance to make it all count.
“It was great to capitalize.” Howard said. “They won the PP-PK game yesterday, and it was great to win the PP-PK game today.”
DEFENSE FIRST, AFTER OFFENSE
The key to the weekend against Sauve was to get pucks on the netminder and make her move side-to-side. On offense, the Colonials attempted 71 shots, with 41 landing on target.
Ohio State blocked 24 shots once again, but it was a revived Colonials defensive core that stepped up in the absence of one of their leaders, Kirsten Welsh. Welsh was suspended for the contest after she picked up a major and a game misconduct for checking to the head on Friday.
First-year blueliner Morgan Schauer was called upon to replace the Colonials all-time leading scorer from defense and, outside of a lapse on her first shift of the game, played well against Ohio State.
The team came together as a whole to fill the void and blocked 20 Buckeye shots. A goal by Emma Maltais at the 9:30 mark of the second period was the last time the Buckeyes saw the scoresheet.
“We really filled in as a group, came and worked harder than yesterday.” Maggie LaGue said. “That really showed. We had one of our better defensive games. That shows we can play as a group, and we’re excited to have [Welsh] back next game.”
THE PRICE WAS RIGHT
A game removed from giving up four goals in the first period and recording her first career loss, Colontino went right back to senior netminder Elijah Milne-Price to start the pivotal game Saturday. She was impressive, stopping 22 of the 24 shots she faced, several in dramatic fashion.
“We thought as a team we really just needed to reload and come with a new level of focus.” Colontino said. “I thought EJ did a heck of a job bouncing back. In truth, I thought the team did a heck of a job bouncing back. We reeled things in, and it was awesome for her to play a solid game and have fun with it.”
NOT DONE WITH THEM YET
The Colonials welcome CHA rival Mercyhurst on Dec 1 – 2. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. on Friday and 5:05 p.m. on Saturday. Robert Morris took the season series from the Lakers 3-0-1 last season, the first time they went undefeated against their arch rivals. It was the second series win all time against Mercyhurst, the first in the 2012-13 season.
