ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's hockey team (8-12-3, 2-6-1 CHA) earned its first College Hockey America league win in nearly two months, defeating Robert Morris (6-12-3, 3-5-2 CHA) 3-2 in front of 605 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday afternoon.

Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning) and Cassie Clayton (Pickering, Ontario/PEAC School) scored first period goals, while Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) scored the eventual game-winning goal with 9:06 left in regulation for the Tigers. In net, Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) was excellent, stopping 30 shots to be named the game's first star.

Maddie Collias had a goal and an assist, while Katelyn Scott also scored for the Colonials. In goal, Jessica Dodds made 24 saves.

RIT was in penalty trouble all game, as seven penalties were whistled on the Tigers to just two for Robert Morris. The Colonials were 2-for-7 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-2. Robert Morris held a 32-27 edge in shots on goal.

"Our energy was much better than yesterday," said RIT head coach Scott McDonald. "Our defense blocked a lot of shots and Ali (Binnington) made the saves we needed to win. It was great to get the early lead and play with confidence."

RIT equaled its goal total from the previous three games at Gene Polisseni Center in the first period, jumping out to a 2-1 lead.

Just 2:13 in, RIT scored on its first shot, as Kolbee McCrea (Wawa, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) threaded a perfect cross ice feed to Maugeri, who was crashing the net to beat Dodds from the doorstep for her fourth goal of the year. McCrea corralled a loose puck in the neutral zone, chipped it past a Colonials defender and with a full head of steam, faked shot and made the perfect feed to Maugeri.

Binnington came up big moments later on Megan Eady, making a big pad save from the slot, as the Robert Morris forward danced around three Tigers and had the partial breakaway.

Clayton made it 2-0 Tigers at the 9:17 mark, taking a feed from Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) at the left faceoff dot and one-timing a pass past Dodds for her first goal of the year. Grigg did a great job to keep the puck in the Robert Morris zone as the Colonials were looking to breakout. Grigg stole a pass, went around a defender and made the perfect pass to Clayton for the goal.

Christa Vuglar (Crystal Lake, IL/Chicago Mission) just missed making it 3-0 as her shot on a 2-on-1 was stopped by Dodds. Darcy Henderson (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) followed up on the play for the rebound, but was hauled down before getting the shot off.

Robert Morris would cut the RIT lead to 2-1 on the power play, as Scott fired a shot from the slot that deflected off a RIT player in front and past Binnington for her second goal of the year.

Neither team scored in a hotly contested, physical second period. Binnington made a big save on Ashley Vesci off the rush near the midway point of the period, using her mask to keep the puck out. RIT and Binnington would have to kill off 38 seconds of a Robert Morris two-man advantage. The penalty-killing unit, led by Grigg, Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres), Taylor  Thurston, Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State), Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy), and Clayton would succeed, keeping everything to the outside.

RIT had a handful of great chances late in the period to go back up two goals. Victoria Pitawanakwat (Manitowaning, Ontario/Sudbury Wolves) had a stuff in attempt stopped by Dodds, with the rebound coming to Lindsay Stenason (Oakville, Ontario/Appleby Collegiate), who had her chance stopped by Dodds and roll through the crease just wide.

McCrea was stopped on a 2-on-1 in the final minute and had a great chance from point-blank range go over the net.

The goalies took center stage early in the third period, as Binnington robbed Vint on the rush from in tight. Dodds made an excellent glove save on Caitlin Wallace (Brantford, Ontario/Assumption Collegiate) from the slot with 11:11 left in regulation.

Payerl would get the eventual game-winning goal with 9:06 left, taking a feed from Darcy Henderson (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) after the latter caused a turnover in the Robert Morris zone. Henderson intercepted a pass, cut to the middle and made a quick pass back to Payerl in front, who fired the shot off Dodds and just inside the left post for her third goal of the year.

Collias made it a one-goal game with 5:09 left in the power-play, as she intercepted a clearing attempt at the left side boards, cut to the middle and beat Binnington low through the legs.

Robert Morris would pressure, but RIT did a great job keeping everything to the outside and held possession time in the Colonials zone for a few minutes late.

Yesterday, Vint scored a goal in the first period, while Mackenzie Johnston added an empty-netter in the final minute, as Dodds stopped all 34 shots in a 2-0 Robert Morris win. Binnington was excellent in net as well for the Tigers, stopping 28 of 29 shots.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 7-6-1. The Tigers eliminated Robert Morris from the postseason in 2013-14 with a 4-1 win in the CHA Semifinals. The two teams will also meet on Feb. 13-14 at Robert Morris.

The Tigers return to action next Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17-18, as they head to Penn State University for a pair of CHA contests. Saturday's game gets underway at 12 p.m., while Sunday's starts at 2 p.m.

"We want to the win the series next weekend and make up ground in the league standings," said McDonald. "Hopefully today's result gets us going in the right direction."