Wayne State sweeps RMU

By Tom Balog/ Wayne State Beat Writer

Delayne Brian made a strong claim for the Wayne State Warriors number one goalie position as she stopped all 24 shots she faced in a 1-0 win over CHA rival Robert Morris at the City Sports Center on Friday night.

The blanking was the sophomore’s third of the season and fourth of her career.

Wayne State needed the saves as the offense was shut down until the 7:31 mark of the third period when Katrina Protopapas smacked in her team-high tenth goal of the season.

The Colonials tried pulling freshman netminder Kristen DiCiocco for the final 1:08, but couldn’t capitalize with the extra attacker.

DiCiocco finished the night with 18 saves.

Wayne State needed a come from behind effort on Saturday afternoon to grab a 3-2 victory and important conference sweep over Robert Morris.

After the eleventh scoreless period of the season, Robert Morris got on the board first with back to back goals in the second period, just 1:13 apart.

Kathleen McDonald and Jamie Joslin took advantage of a 5-on-3 power-play to put RMU up 2-0.

Instead of shutting down though, the Warrior offense geared up.

Protopapas started Wayne’s comeback with her 11th goal of the season and ninth on the power-play at 11:09 of the second period.

Then just over two minutes later sophomore forward Julie Ingratta hammered in her fifth of the year to tie up the score at 2.

That set up the third period dramatics for Veronique Laramee-Paquette.

While killing off yet another RMU power-play, Laramee-Paquette blocked a shot in the WSU zone. Micheline Frappier picked up the puck and sent a long outlet pass to Laramee-Paquette. Laramee-Paquette went in on the breakaway and went top shelf over Daneca Butterfield for the game winning, shorthanded goal.

Delayne Brian held off the Colonials from there, stopping 27 shots to move to 5-3-2 on the season.

Butterfield turned away 24 for RMU.

With the pair of wins Wayne State (8-9-3, 4-4-0 CHA) moved into a second place tie in conference with Niagara and Syracuse and just a point behind top-ranked Mercyhurst.

The Warriors will hit the road for a pair of games at Quinnipiac next weekend, before returning home for four straight CHA games beginning with Syracuse on Jan 29-20.

ICE CHIPS…

- Protopapas moved into a tie with Jessica Haydahl (2002-06) for seventh all-time at WSU in career goals (24).

- Protopapas’s nine power-play goals this season are tied for the national lead.

- Laramee-Paquette's game-winner was the fourth of her career, tied for seventh-most in program history.

- Wayne State is 18-2-0 all-time against Robert Morris.