NEVILLE TWP., Pa — The Robert Morris Colonials defeated the Syracuse Orange 5-0 on Friday night, walking out of the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center as three-time defending College Hockey America regular season champions.
Senior Amber Rennie opened up the scoring at 3:49 of the first, firing a backhand over Syracuse starter Ady Cohen for her tenth goal of the season. The power-play goal was Rennie’s seventh, not only leading the team, but the entire conference. Montour native Anjelica Diffendal was the beneficiary of a Jaycee Gebhard pass, tapping the puck in at 14:00 to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead.
Syracuse tried to mount a bit of momentum in the second, but the Colonials continued to turn the dial up and meet the Orange attack stride-for-stride. Gebhard’s point shot at 14:30 of the second beat the junior netminder, and the Colonials extended their lead to three. Pressure continued to mount from a relentless Robert Morris forecheck, and an awkward bounce off a shot by Natalie Marcuzzi gave the Colonials a 4-0 lead.
The Colonials continued the pressure in the third, and Kirsten Welsh tapped home a power-play goal from the top of the crease, and Arielle DeSmet put on a show the rest of the contest.
First-year DeSmet received the nod in net for Robert Morris, stopping all 24 shots she faced en-route to her first career shutout and her third victory of the season.
UP NEXT
The regular season comes to a close on Saturday afternoon with the final game against Syracuse. Prior to the 3:05 p.m. puck drop the class of 2019 will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Amber Rennie, Kirsten Welsh, Maggie LaGue, Sarah Quaranta, Caitlyn Sadowy and Lauren Bailey were an integral part of the Colonials three consecutive regular season championships, as well as the 2017 CHA tournament championship. The Colonials head in to the postseason as the No. 1 seed, playing the lowest remaining seed at the HarborCenter in Buffalo on Thursday, Mar 7. Face-off is scheduled for the tournament at either 4:30 p.m. or 7:30.
