MOON TOWNSHIP, PA – Carly Payerl (Kitchener, Ontario/Resurrection Catholic) scored the game-winner with 34.5 seconds left in overtime, lifting the RIT women’s hockey team (8-25-1, 4-15-1 CHA) to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Robert Morris (15-14-5, 7-9-4 CHA) in the regular season finale, a College Hockey America battle on Saturday afternoon.
With under a minute to go in overtime, Payerl attempted to clear the puck from center ice, as Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) was battling for the puck with a Robert Morris defender. Payerl chased down the puck, and Paton was able to tap the puck to a charging Payerl, who fired a wrist shot past Robert Morris goaltender Jessica Dodds for the victory.
Payerl and Paton tallied a goal and an assist each to lead the Tigers. Darcy Henderson (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas) added a second period goal, while Haley Northcote (Cumberland, Ontario/Minnesota State), Reagan Rust (Southaven, MS/Moon Area), and Taylor Thurston (Kanata, Ontario/All Saints Catholic) each added an assist. In goal, Jenna de Jonge (Abbotsford, British Columbia/George Elliot) stopped 32-of-34 shots in the victory.
Anissa Gamble and Mackenzie Johnston tallied goals for Robert Morris. In net, Dodds stopped 23 shots in the decision. Shots on goal favored Robert Morris, 34-26, but the Colonials were 0-for-5 on the power play. RIT converted on one of its seven chances.
The Tigers now regain the all-time series lead between the two teams with a 10-9-4 record. It was the first win over the Colonials in four tries this season.
“That was a great win today for the team,” said Bruce B. Bates Women’s Hockey Coach Scott McDonald. “Today had the intensity of a playoff game, and we just found a way to win. We had the early lead, and then had to fight back for the tie and dug deep for the win. I like our mental state heading into the playoffs.”
RIT started out aggressive in the opening period, putting pressure on the Robert Morris zone, which led to the early goal. Rust took an early shot from just inside the blue line, which Paton rerouted from inside the faceoff circle, the puck flying over the head of Dodds into the net.
Robert Morris’ best chance in the period came off their second power play opportunity. A one-timer from Brittany Howard from inside the faceoff circle went through the defense but de Jonge kicked the shot aside with her pads.
Late in the first, on a 4-on-4 chance, Henderson had a great shot to double the lead on a 2-on-1 break. Leading the break, Henderson unleashed a shot from the face-off circle that beat Dodds high, but hit the top of the crossbar to keep the lead at one.
Early in what ended up as a wild second period, Robert Morris tied the game, 2:38 into the period. Frasier backhanded a pass to Victoria Gamble from inside the faceoff circle. de Jonge knocked the shot aside, but Gamble punched the shot in off the rebound. Later in the period, it was the Tigers who had a chance, with a 5-on-3 power play. RIT was aggressive, tallying six shots on goal, but couldn’t put the puck in the net.
On a turnover at the trail end of that penalty kill, Robert Morris found itself with a 2-on-1 opportunity. Ashley Vesci passed from the boards to Johnston, who received the pass just ahead of the RIT defender, finishing past de Jonge to take the lead.
With just over five minutes left in the period, RIT converted on a power play chance. On a faceoff in the Robert Morris defensive zone, which was won by Payerl, Northcote was fed the puck and fired a rocket from the point that Henderson redirected to beat Dodds wide to tie the game at two.
Each team had a chance to take the lead on the power play in the third, but both Dodds and de Jonge stood strong and the defenses bunkered down to keep the game tied, heading into overtime.
Early in the extra period, RIT had a chance to win it, packing the net to punch the puck in the goal, but the Robert Morris defense protected Dodds, briefly keeping the game tied. Both teams went back and forth for the next few minutes, before the late-game heroics by Payerl and Paton.
The Tigers will travel to University Park, Pa. to take on Penn State in the 2016 CHA First Round series, starting on Friday, Feb. 26. RIT was 1-3 against the Nittany Lions in the regular season, the lone victory coming in a 3-0 shutout at the Gene Polisseni Center on Jan. 15.
