Noll’s brace leads Robert Morris women to 4-2 win on Long Island

BOX SCORE

Noll, who transferred to RMU from LIU during the summer, scored her first NCAA goal just 70 seconds into the match, with freshman Colleen Sullivan getting the assist.

A native of suburban Harrisburg, Noll capped her big individual day in the 25th minute, winning a battle for the ball and feeding it into an empty net to give RMU its first four-goal half in nearly six years.

In between Noll’s twin tallies, freshman Sheridan Reid picked up a goal and an assist, taking over the team scoring lead with nine points. Junior Brittany O’Connell was the beneficiary of Reid’s helper in the fourth minute, then Reid scored unassisted on a one-v-one situation with LIU keeper Kayla DeTreux in the 12th minute to make it 3-1.

The Colonials (4-7-1, 2-2-0 NEC) allowed a goal shortly after halftime to cut the margin to 4-2, but they were able to defend well enough after that, despite playing against the wind.

Junior keeper Sydney Bruckner was a large part of that shutdown effort, making six of her eight saves after the halftime break. Her .840 save percentage remains on pace to be one of the five best single-season marks in team history.

RMU head coach John Kowalski said his team was able to carry over their strong second half in Friday’s 2-1 loss at Wagner.

“We started the same lineup and it carried over,” he said. “Now, we need to score some next weekend.”

With the convincing defeat of reborn Long Island (2-9-1, 1-3-0 NEC), the Colonials moved into seventh place in the 11-team NEC. Following their biggest offensive outburst since October 2017, the Colonials will host Sacred Heart on Friday and Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday, Oct. 13.