It was a tightly contested but disappointing weekend for the Illinois hockey team.

No. 15 Illinois made the short trip to Chicago to face a familiar foe in the No. 2 Robert Morris Eagles and returned to Champaign with two tough losses.

Saturday night’s 3-2 defeat was the more heartbreaking of the two, as the Illini allowed the game winning goal with just three minutes left in the game. Senior forward Matt Welch scored the opening goal of the game for Illinois, and after losing the lead, senior forward John Scully netted the game-tying goal late in the third period while the Illini were short-handed on offense.

“I thought the energy and the effort was there, and we showed a lot of heart coming back and tying the game late the way we did short-handed,” head coach Nick Fabbrini said. “Overall, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough this weekend.”

The Eagles were able to break the tie within a minute of Scully’s goal, and finished the game with a 3-2 victory. Robert Morris responded quickly to both of the goals scored by Illinois on Saturday, scoring in less than a minute after each of them.

“Momentum goals are something we’ve talked about and they hurt us again, twice,” Fabbrini said. “Their first and third (goals) were both within a minute of us scoring. It makes it tough to win games when that kind of stuff happens.”

The Illini received a gritty effort on Saturday from backup goaltender Joe Olen, who got the start over senior goalie Nick Clarke after the tough 5-2 loss on Friday. Robert Morris outshot Illinois overwhelmingly, as they racked up a 48-19 advantage, but Olen found a way to keep his team in it.

“He was lights-out last night,” Scully said of Olen. “Of the only goals he gave up, one was a bad bounce and the other one was just us not picking up guys, so he made every save that he should have made. I think both goalies were OK this weekend, and it’s more on the forwards to pick it up for them.”

Clarke was called for a five-minute major penalty for slashing in the final minutes of Friday’s game, which Fabbrini said was a factor in his decision to give him the night off Saturday. Ultimately, though, he just wanted to get Clarke some rest and give Olen an opportunity.

The Illini have just two more games before the month-long semester break and will focus on winning enough games to qualify for the ACHA national tournament.

“Really all that matters now is wins,” Fabbrini said. “We’re really not in a position to look for moral victories, we need to win games and get in the national tournament. We need to win as many games as we can between now and then and it starts next weekend against Northern Illinois.”

Joey can be reached at [email protected] and @joeyfigueroa3