NEVILLE TWP, Pa. — 
It was bound to happen sooner or later.
After cruising through his freshman season with the nation’s best save percentage, Robert Morris freshman goaltender Francis Marotte finally had a subpar outing, allowing three goals on 12 shots before being lifted in favor of senior Dalton Izyk early in the second period of the Colonials’ 6-2 loss to Air Force at 84 Lumber Arena on Friday.
Marotte’s slip-up was far from the only misstep the Colonials made on the evening, and the decision to pull him — the first time head coach Derek Schooley had done so — was just as much about the play of the total team as it was the netminder.
“I don’t think he was sharp,” Schooley said. “He made some saves, but I wasn’t pleased with how it was going and it was more to wake the team up, too, and I thought it did a pretty good job.”
It was a sleepy first period in which the Colonials had a difficult time connecting passes through the Falcons’ aggressive forecheck. In the second period, though, things started clicking, as Daniel Leavens got the team on the board and Timmy Moore and Matthew Graham both hit posts.
“We were getting back and getting pucks and winning races,” Schooley said. “In the first, they were winning races, they were getting pucks and we just didn’t respond the right way.”
The Colonials hounded Air Force goaltender Shane Starrett to a 15-7 shot advantage in the middle frame, but it was an innocent-looking shot at the other end from Falcons blueliner Abood that deflected past Marotte and deflated RMU.
“You get a big goal and they get one right back,” said freshman forward Luke Lynch. “You have to fight for every inch of the ice and then a couple will go your way.”
Lynch did just that, going right to the front of the net, where he inadvertently deflected Rob Mann’s point shot to again draw the Colonials to within a goal at 3-2.
“I was trying to get out of the way, but it ended up hitting my stick and finding it’s way in there,” he said. “I’ll take it.”
BATTLE LEVEL
But the third period didn’t go the Colonials’ way, either. After having dominated the play in the second, Schooley thought his team got more focus on their opponents than their own game.
“We were doing things that we haven’t been doing this year,” Schooley said. “We were caught up with the referees, we were caught up in the extracurricular activity.”
Brady Ferguson took a 10-minute misconduct penalty at the same time that Robert Powers took a roughing minor midway through the third. The Colonials killed the Powers minor, but with Ferguson unable to play, they were unable to mount an offensive comeback.
BACK IN ACTION
Izyk played in his first game since Nov. 5, when he suffered a lower-body injury against Ohio State. He’d been back to full health for a few weeks, but the strong play of Marotte had kept him from getting back into the lineup. Seeing the freshman struggle wasn’t the way he wanted to get back into the crease, but Izyk said it was good to shake some of the rust off in case he’s called upon again down the stretch.
“I got some action and [junior Andrew Pikul] could have been ready, too,” Izyk said. “Everyone’s said all year, it’s next man up. He’ll bounce back. He’s the best goalie in the nation right now.”
COLONIALS NOTES
Daniel Leavens now has a six-game scoring streak and has recorded eight points in that span.
The four-goal margin is the team’s most lopsided loss in over a year. They also lost, 6-2, at Canisius on Dec 13, 2015. The last home win with at least such a margin of defeat came Feb. 5, 2013 in an 8-1 loss to Mercyhurst.
The two teams will meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. at 84 Lumber Arena.
