MOON TOWNSHIP, PA — The RIT women's hockey team (6-21-2, 4-9-2 College Hockey America) fell 4-1 in game one of the weekend series at No. 8 Robert Morris University (18-3-6, 11-2-2 College Hockey America) on Friday afternoon at 84 Lumber Arena.

"Today was a tough game for us, we hesitated too much against a very good team," said Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Head Coach Scott McDonald. "Special teams was a huge difference in the game. We have to clean up that area of our game up tomorrow for us to have a chance."
 
Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) scored on an assist from Lindsay Stenason (Oakville, Ontario/Appleby College) just 1:02 into the game, while Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) made 34 saves in her third-straight start in net for RIT. For Robert Morris, Brittany Howard had four points on two goals and two assists, while Jaycee Gebhard had three points on two goals and one assist. Maggie Lague had two assists, while Kirsten Welsh and Leah Carey also added helpers for the Colonials. Jessica Dodds notched her 10th win of the season, stopping 21 of 22 shots.
 
The Tigers opened the scoring, as Cornine talled her team-leading ninth goal of the season in the first period. But Robert Morris came back firing when they got a power-play chance near the midpoint of the period. They quickly tied the game 1-1, on Howard's 16th goal at the 9:30 point in the frame. Cornine had a chance to take the lead, shortly after the tying goal, but Dodds came up with a big save to keep the game deadlocked at one. The Colonials then took a 2-1 lead on another power-play tally, coming off the stick of Gebhard.
 
The second period saw several chances on both ends, but only one shot found the twine. 6:27 into the period, Howard extended the Robert Morris lead to 3-1 on a nice wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle, which just beat de Jonge in the top left corner of the net. The Tigers were unable to convert on two chances on the man advantage, and were outshot 13-4 in the stanza. Madison Farrand (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill) also had a golden chance on a breakaway, but was robbed by Dodds.
 
The Colonials extended their lead to 4-1 in the third period, as Gebhard and Howard connected with 7:23 left in regulation. The tally was Gebhard's second goal of the game and 18th of the year.

Robert Morris finished the game 3-for-5 on the power-play, while RIT was unable to convert on five chances of its own. The Colonials out-shot the Tigers 38-22, but the Tigers won the battle at the faceoff dot, 35-30.
 
RIT and Robert Morris are now tied in the all-time series between the two schools, 10-10-3. Robert Morris took both games earlier in the season at the Gene Polisseni Center, as the Colonials won 4-3 on Nov. 11 and recorded a 5-1 win the following day. Cornine now has had four points (two goals and two assists) in three games against the Colonials this season.
 
RIT and Robert Morris will battle again on Saturday in the final regular season meeting between the two schools. Faceoff is set for 1:05 p.m. at 84 Lumber Arena.