MOON TOWNSHIP– The defending CHA regular-season champion Robert Morris University Colonials had their first and only exhibition game this afternoon. The Colonials took on a Canadian college, Concordia, in this matchup and lost by a score of 5-4. Although this was an exhibition game, there is still a lot to analyze from this matchup.

“In an exhibition game, you are kind of looking at everything. You want to see how off of where you need to be in your systems you are,” stated head coach Paul Colontino.

Another thing that the Colonials were looking for in this game was the new players and first years coming into the system. New additions to the roster Marah Wagner and Michaela Boyle both scored goals in this contest. Boyle stood out in particular, as she spent time on the top line with Jaycee Gebhard and Lexi Templeman.

“I thought they did a really nice job adjusting. It was nice how they jumped in and we had them score some goals, and that was kind of huge for us,” stated Colontino.

“I think that both lines that I played with totally meshed really well playing with players like Natalie Marcuzzi and Maggy Burbidge, and then playing alongside Jaycee and Lexi,” stated sophomore transfer, Michaela Boyle.

In the first period, the Colonials powerplay was what shined as they worked their magic and tallied a goal via Jaycee Gebhard. Gebhard also made a great feed to newcomer Michaela Boyle for a shorthanded goal in the second period. The Colonials gave up two goals in the first, and two in the second, and found themselves down 4-2 entering the third period as a result.

Throughout the entirety of this period, the Colonials were dominating and pressuring the Stingers in every way possible. The Colonials were able to fight their way back to within one goal as they had goals from freshman Marah Wagner and junior Lexi Templeman. But with a late 5-on-3 advantage, RMU came up short and Concordia escaped Moon Township with the victory 5-4.

“We definitely progressed every period. The way we played in the last ten minutes was definitely Colonial hockey and that’s something we have to teach the underclassmen, and I think they all got a taste of it today,” stated captain Jaycee Gebhard on the third-period surge.

In terms of goaltending, head coach Paul Colontino split each period with a new goaltender, rotating between Molly Singewald in the first, Arielle DeSmet in the second, and Raygan Kirk in the third. With the departure of Lauren Bailey, the coaching staff is trying to find their true number one goaltender, but have yet to confirm who it will be.

“We wanted to get all three goalies in, as they all had a great preseason and camp. We will work throughout the week to see who gets the start. We will know on Thursday who will get the starting spot for Friday,” stated Colontino.

On the team’s performance today, Gebhard stated that “It’s definitely eye-opening for all of us to see that we are that good and we can be that good.”

Friday marks the first regular-season game for the Colonials at home, they will square up against Union at 7:05 p.m. With the amount of energy the team displayed today in just an exhibition game, this team looks hungry to build off of their success from last season.