MOON TOWNSHIP — Through the first three games of conference play, the Robert Morris women’s soccer team was winless until the Colonials secured their first Horizon League victory of 2022 against Detroit Mercy, 2-1.

Over the past week, head coach Chris Shaw and the Colonials (6-2-3, 1-2-1 Horizon) made adjustments in preparation for its return to the North Athletic Complex against Detroit Mercy (4-6-1, 2-2 Horizon).

“This was by far our best performance in league play,” Shaw said. “We talked about a lot of things this morning about building on what we saw against Purdue Fort Wayne and some changes we needed to make.”

One thing Shaw stressed that the Colonials needed to improve on was the play away from the ball and the Colonials were noticeably better against Detroit Mercy with their positioning and anticipation for the ball.

“I thought our ball movement today and our movement off the ball was really good and that was the difference today,” Shaw said.

The movement off the ball was the difference in the game as the go-ahead goal was a result of anticipation and execution. Freshman Elisa Corvalan collected a loose ball and delivered it to the back of the net past Titans’ goalkeeper Jazmine Scott in the 82’.

“Elisa [Corvalan] is a good player and I thought we had four or five of those loose balls we could’ve scored,” Shaw said.

While the Colonials locked down defensively in the second half, Detroit Mercy began the game on the offensive. Detroit Mercy opened the scoring as Taylor Stanley sent a feed into the goal box where Julie Ann Piechocki tapped it past Robert Morris goalkeeper Isabella Bohlen.

From there on, the Colonials began to play with more pressure and started to test the Titans’ goalkeeper. At the 34-minute mark, Robert Morris found the equalizer. Renae Mohrbacher finessed her way inside the Titans’ defense with some nifty footwork and drove a ball toward the net that got behind Scott.

With the game tied, the Colonials battled through an aggressive Titans team as they looked for their first Horizon League victory.

“Teams want to be physical against us because it’s not something we promote as a program,” Shaw said. “We managed the physicality of the game well and at the end of the day the ball is faster than the player so if you move the ball they can’t get to it and a lot of times that’s when you get fouled.”

The Colonials now turn towards Northern Kentucky on Saturday as they travel to Highland Heights, Ky. for a noon start.