Moon Township, PA— The Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead, however they were unable to hold on to it as Mercyhurst fell to the Robert Morris Colonials 3-2 in overtime in their second matchup since the CHA Final.
How it Happened
The Lakers struck first with 4:30 left in first period as Grace Nelles and Sara Boucher set up a 2-1. Nelles made the cross-ice pass to Boucher and she made no mistake as she ripped into the top corner of the Robert Morris net. The freshman Boucher netted her fourth of the season while Nelles picked up her third point of the season.
Jenna Silvonen made her fifth start of the season and stopped all 6 shots she saw in the first period, including a huge save on a deflection at the 6:40 mark of the first period to keep the game scoreless at the time.
After the first period the Lakers headed to the locker room leading for the third time this season. The Lakers were able to once again outshoot the Colonials 7-6 in the first period.
At 13:48 of the second period, while on the power play captain Alexa Vasko scored her second goal of the weekend and third of the season as she took the pass from Boucher who notched her second point of the afternoon while Summer-Rae Dobson picked up her first point of the season.
The two-goal lead didn't last long as the Colonials scored back to back goals under two minutes apart from each other.
For the second game in a row, Robert Morris once again took 5-minute major penalty with 5 minutes remaining in the second period. Despite the advantage, the Lakers were unable to convert on the powerplay.
The Lakers and Colonials headed back to their locker room knotted at two despite Mercyhurst outshooting Robert Morris 24-7 in the second period.
With 14:08 remaining in the third Liliane Perreault beat the Robert Morris defender and drove to the net, as she was falling to the ice she put the puck off the post, however she was held on the play and the Lakers went back on the powerplay. The Lakers were unable to convert on the powerplay as they only generated just one shot.
With 11:22 remaining in regulation Silvonen made the save of the day as she recovered from being knocked over by a Colonial and snagged the puck for the whistle.
After 60 minutes of play, nothing was solved as the teams were tied 2-2 for the second straight day. The Lakers led in shots 37-29 after regulation.
With 2:12 remaining in the overtime period, Silvonen poked the puck away and it took weird hop as it popped over her and barely crossed the goal line to give Robert Morris the overtime win.
The Lakers outshot the Colonials 37-32 in game, while also blocking 22 Robert Morris shots with K.K. Thiessen leading the way with 7 blocks.
Special Teams
The Lakers were able to win the battle on special teams by scoring on the powerplay for the third time this season while killing off the only Colonial powerplay of the game.
Up Next
Due to COVID-19 protocols at Lindenwood, the Lakers will now head to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions on Saturday and Sunday. The Lakers will then return to the Mercyhurst Ice Center to take on Syracuse on January 29th and 30th.
