Moraga, Calif. - March 12, 2009 - The Robert Morris University Colonials surged past the Saint Mary Gaels in a 15-9 victory on Thursday afternoon at Saint Mary's Stadium. The Colonials ended the first-half with a two-goal lead, but overpowered the Gael's in the second half to win the game by a six goal difference. With the win the Colonials improve their record to 2-3, while the Gael's fall to 1-5.

The Colonials were led by senior Emily Tomlinson (Springfield, Va. / West Springfield), who tallied a hat-trick in the win, while seniors Jillian Howley (East Northport, N.Y. / Northport) and Kara Blakeley (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine Richland), junior Ali Gibbons (Candia, N.H. / Manchester) and freshman Courtney Sicinski (Downintown, Pa. / Downingtown West) each added a pair of goals in the win. Sicinski led the RMU with a game-high five points, as she had notched a trio of helpers in the win along with her two goals.

Junior goalie Erica Webb (Arnold, Md. / Broadneck) tallied her fifth consecutive multi-save game with 12, while Gael goalie Hilary Gardner stopped 18 balls.

Four minutes into the first half the Gaels took advantage of a free-position attempt with a goal made by P.J. Hainley to give Saint Mary's the early 1-0 lead.

The Colonials fired numerous shots at the net, but were unable to get the ball past Gardner until 7:40 into the half when Tomlinson fired a shot into the left corner of the net to tie things up. Less than a minute later Tomlinson netted another goal to give them the 2-1 advantage.

In the next three minutes of play the two teams traded goals, which kept the Colonials with the one goal lead at 3-2. However, at 16:44 Saint Mary's Maggie Schwab scored, which started a three goal string for the Gaels, giving them a 5-3 lead.

The two teams battled for the next 10 minutes, but neither team was able to get a score on the board, but in the final two and a half minutes of play the Colonials were able to get a flood of goals on the board to take a 7-5 lead. Gibbons netted two goals in a row, with one coming at 28:46 and the next coming in the final second of regulation.

Robert Morris got the first strike of action in the second half and continued to lead for the rest of the game. Tomlinson scored her third goal of the game within the first minute of the half off an assist from Ashley Levering (Glenwood, Md. / Glenelg) to increase their lead to 8-5. The Gaels quickly brought the score within one, 8-7, scoring two goals in a 20 second span less than a minute after Tomlinson's goal.

With 25:59 on the clock Levering snuck the ball past Gardner after receiving a pass from Sicinski, which was followed by three more RMU goals, two of which were made on free position attempts.

Saint Mary's cut into the Colonials' lead slightly at 15:32 when Katie Nelson fired a shot into the Colonial net during a free position attempt to set the score at 12-8.

Throughout the remainder of the half Robert Morris added three more goals to their collection, while Saint Mary's added one to finalize the score at 15-9.

The Saint Mary's Gaels were led by Amy Daniels who had three goals in the game and P.J. Hainley who added two.

The Colonials return to action on Saturday, March 14 to take on UC Davis at 1:00 p.m.

2009-03-13