Moon Township, Pa. ? The Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team was defeated by Towson, 9-8, in a Colonial Athletic Association match-up at Joe Walton Stadium Saturday afternoon.  

Senior Andrew Watt (Kitchener, Ontario / Grand River Collegiate) scored a team-high three goals, while senior Michael Fleming (Sarnia, Ontario / St. Christopher), junior Billy Conques (Fairfax, Va. / Paul VI) and freshman Trevor Moore (Port Coquitlam, B.C. / Western Reserve Academy) tallied a goal and an assist apiece.

The Colonials (4-6, 0-2 CAA) put on a dominating performance through the first quarter, outshooting the Tigers 10-3 and jumping out to a 3-0 advantage. Moore got the Colonials on the board after scoring an unassisted goal on the crease at 11:55, while freshman Rob Marasti (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) extended the lead to 2-0 when he took a feed from Conques in midst of two Towson defenders and buried it past net-minder Billy Sadtler at 9:31. Junior Dan Kerch (Chesterfield, Mo. / DeSmet) added his ninth goal of the season at 4:49.

Towson found an offensive groove in the second quarter scoring back-to-back tallies to cut the lead to one. But, after a quick goal by Conques at 10:13 and an illegal stick penalty on Towson on the ensuing face-off, the Colonials regained their three-goal cushion thanks to Watt's first of the game at 10:01. The Tigers closed out the first half with a goal by Jonathan Engelke to take a 5-3 deficit into halftime. Engelke led all Towson scorers with three goals and an assist.

After the intermission, head coach Tony Seaman pulled Sadtler from net in favor of senior Matt Antol, who proved to be a deciding factor in the third quarter. After allowing an unassisted goal by Fleming at the 12:09 mark, Antol weathered the storm with four key saves as Towson connected on the next three goals to take a 6-6 deadlock into the fourth.

The Tigers took their first lead of the game with a goal by Adam Hagelin in the opening minutes of the stanza.

Watt would lead the Colonials back into contention and tie the game at 7-7 with his first of two in the stanza at 6:22. The Tigers, however, would seal the game with a pair of goals in the span of a minute to take a 9-7 lead. Watt closed out scoring with his third of the game after taking a pass on the crease from freshman Corbyn Tao-Brambleby (Coquitlam, B.C. / Western Reserve Academy) at 3:36.

Sophomore Sal Barcia (West Islip, N.Y. / West Islip) anchored RMU in net with 16 saves, three ground balls and two caused turnovers. The two Towson net-minders combined for seven saves and eight goals allowed as the Colonials outshot the Tigers, 34-33.

Robert Morris returns to action on Saturday, April 5 when the Colonials visit #11 Drexel for a Colonial Athletic Association duel. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.