Women's D2 Club Ice Hockey | 4/11/2023 12:41:00 PM

The D2 Women's Hockey Team faced off against the West Virginia Mountaineers at the Island Sports Complex here in Coraopolis. These two teams previously played each other back in October, where unfortunately WVU came out on top in a 0-5 defeat. The Colonials would look to improve on that performance and hopefully tie the series up here at home. 

Through the first 10 minutes of the first, both teams seemed to be settling in and really getting a feel for each other once again. Nothing too crazy happened until about the 9 minute mark, when the Colonials found themselves on a 2-1 breakaway. After some neat passing between Rebecca Shook and Hayley Whittaker, Whittaker was able to find the back of the net to open the scoring 1-0 in RMU's favor. This early goal was a great sign from the Colonials after being held scoreless in last month's matchup. A few minutes later, the Mountaineers were able to tie things up after they snuck a shot past Alexia Martinez through a bunch of traffic. WVU wasted no time and ended up adding another goal after finding an opening in the Colonial defense. The first period would close shortly after, with RMU finding themselves down 1-2. 

Each team opened the second period up with some early scoring opportunities, but the Mountaineers were the first to capitalize when they buried a shot through the five-hole of Alexia Martinez. The score was now 1-3, and the Colonials would be faced with an uphill battle to get back in this one. The Mountaineer defense was doing well to stop any sort of decent shot from going on goal. Erin Secilia finally got a really good opportunity, but she watched her shot rattle off the post and be cleared away. Moments later, WVU made things even more difficult when they lured Martinez out of the goal and slotted one in the net. Now faced with a 1-4 deficit halfway through the second period, the Colonials would need to start chipping away at the lead quickly. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so and the second period would come to end with the score remaining at 1-4 in WVU's favor.

RMU came out playing aggressively to start the third, and Mikayla Lange-Bittner nearly got a goal back but unfortunately her shot fell right into the glove of the Mountaineer goalie. The Colonials kept applying heavy pressure, but time after time the WVU defense came up with stops at just the right times. Finally, RMU was able to snag a goal back with 7 minutes left after a beautiful shot from Danielle Karol. The Colonials were only down 2 goals now, but time was running out quickly. To make matters worse, WVU found the back of the goal once again late in the third to extend their lead back to 3 goals. Rebecca Shook was able to bury a rebound into the Mountaineer net just seconds later, but with only 2 minutes left the Colonials would still need to find 2 more goals to tie this game up. The tense final minutes would eventually expire, and the Colonials would lose this game 3-5.

Despite a hard fought game from RMU, they were unable to climb back into this one after falling behind in the first period. The Colonials showed great improvement from their first game against WVU, and would look to use this as motivation for their upcoming road trip.