PITTSBURGH—The Colgate Women's Hockey team fought tight with Robert Morris on Saturday at Colonials Arena and the result showed.
The home side kept the Raiders in check for the opening dozen minutes of the game, but Colgate needed just an inch to get going.
With Colgate deep in the offensive zone,
Tanner Gates and
Bailey Larson fought for possession of the puck, before
Malia Schneider found it…then found the back of the net. She corralled the disk in the left faceoff circle and sent a backhanded shot along the ice that eluded the far pad of RMU goalie Arielle DeSmet.
Starting goalie
Julia Vandyk had to be sharp in the first period for the Raiders and she was up to the task. With the Colonials winning the territorial battle in the opening frame, Vandyk was perfect on all nine shots she saw.
Robert Morris finally broke through in the second period. A shot was directed towards Vandyk that was deflected right in front and found the back of the net to even the score.
Vandyk continued on with her strong performance after the tally and stopped five shots in the second, including a highlight reel blocker stop midway through the frame to keep the game deadlocked.
Just like the Colonials did in the second period, the Raiders had an answer right away to open up the final frame. Off of an offensive zone faceoff,
Rosalie Demers won the draw forward, then
Delani MacKay moved it along as well, before
Eleri MacKay slipped a backhanded shot home to give the visitors their second lead of the day. The tally came just 52 seconds into the period.
The advantage was short lived, as RMU found the equalizer less than three minutes later.
The remaining 16 minutes of regulation time was a battle, as both teams traded chances and continued on with the weekend's trend of strong, physical hockey.
Colgate thought it had tied the game with under 10 minutes to play when Larson had the puck bounce out to her in the slot. She fired a snap shot that hit the crossbar, then went straight down and out. A video review ensued to confirm the no-goal call on the ice.
After 60 minutes of play, the teams headed to overtime, where Vandyk continued to shine. She had a pair of game-saving stops, as she stopped one on a doorstep chance off her mask, then she made a breakaway save on RMU leading scorer Jaycee Gebhard.
Vandyk's effort kept the game tied, as 65 minutes was not enough to decide a winner and she finished the contest with 28 saves.
Bottom Line
- #10/10 Colgate 3, Robert Morris 3
Facts & Figures
- Schneider continued on with her offensive tear, as she extended her point streak to six games.
- Schneider also overtook the sole scoring lead on the team with 13 points in 12 games.
- Schneider, Larson and Gates had at least one point in both games on the weekend.
- Eldridge's +1 evening gave her the team lead in the category with a +9 rating on the campaign.
- Eleri MacKay's goal made it three in the past three games.
- Colgate's second goal was the second time this season that a MacKay twin has assisted on another's goal.
From the Source
Head Coach
Greg Fargo
- "There were some positive moments today," said Fargo. "As it went on, we got better and our play got to the level that it needs to be in order to have success."
- "A tie was certainly fitting," said Fargo. "Both teams battled hard, but it feels like we left something on the table here."
- "It's hard to win at this level," said Fargo. "Every team that we're going to face is going to play hard; they want to win too. It's not going to get easier, so we have to be prepared to battle and work."
Up Next
The Raiders continue their season-long six-game stretch of contests away from home next Friday evening when they travel to face ECAC rival Princeton. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m. at Hobey Baker Rink.
