ROCHESTER, NY – Despite 39 saves from goaltender Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen), the RIT women's hockey team (1-5-3, 0-1-0 CHA) opened College Hockey America play by falling 3-1 to Robert Morris University (5-5-1, 3-1-1 CHA) from the Gene Polisseni Center Friday evening.
 
Taylor Baker (Toronto, Ontario/North Toronto Collegiate Institute) scored RIT's lone goal, a power-play marker midway through the second period, with assists going to Ellie Larson (Hutchinson, MN/Hutchinson Tigers) and Logan Land (Turkey Point, Ontario/Holy Trinity Catholic). Lanteigne, the reigning CHA Goaltender of the Month, was spectacular all evening, stopping 39 shots on 41 shots.
 
Kirsten Welsh, Amber Rennie and Jaycee Gebhard scored for the Colonials, while Lexi Templeman drew assists on all three goals. Goaltender Lauren Bailey made 17 saves for the win.
 
Robert Morris out-shot RIT, 41-18. RIT was 1-for-5 on the power-play, while Robert Morris was 1-for-3. RIT had 1:51 of a 5-on-3 power-play with under six minutes left in regulation, but could not score.
 
"We had plenty of chances to get the game to overtime or win, but couldn't execute on our opportunities," said Bruce B. Bates Women's Hockey Coach Chad Davis. "We want to come out stronger tomorrow and try and get the split."
 
Neither team scored in the opening period, as Robert Morris held a 15-5 edge in shots.
 
The Tigers came out and put great pressure on in the opening minutes, recording the first eight shot attempts of the contest.
 
Lanteigne had to come up big with a handful of key stops later in the period. Her best two stops came on consecutive stuff in attempts by Lexi Templeman on the doorstep after the initial shot by Kirsten Welsh was denied.
 
Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep) whistled a wrist shot from the point late in the period that eluded Bailey, who was screened, but just went wide.
 
The Tigers would open the scoring just before the midway point of the second period on the power-play, as Baker took a pass from Ellie Larson (Hutchinson, MN/Hutchinson Tigers) and fired a shot past Bailey for her first goal of the season.
 
Just before the goal, Lanteigne made a tremendous save on a shorthanded breakaway from Templeman. Templeman tried to go to the backhand, but Lanteigne sprawled across to make the pad save.
 
The Colonials would strike back with a pair of goals 2:23 apart to take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Welsh fired a shot through traffic past Lanteigne on the power-play at the 14:20 mark and at 16:43, Rennie scored on a wrap around after extended zone time from the Colonials.
 
Lanteigne made a huge save on Gebhard to keep it a 2-1 game with under 10 minutes left.
 
RIT would be awarded 1:51 of a 5-on-3 power-play late in regulation, but could not get the tying goal. Larson had RIT's best chance with five minutes left, ringing a shot off the left post and out.
 
With Lanteigne pulled for the extra attacker, Gebhard put the game away with an empty-netter in the final seconds.
 
Robert Morris leads the all-time series between the two schools, 18-10-3. Today's contest was the first of four regular season meetings between the two clubs in 2018-19. The Tigers and Colonials also meet on Jan. 25-26, 2019 at Robert Morris.
 
RIT and Robert Morris wrap up the weekend series from the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday at 1 p.m.