Towson, Md.  ? March 21, 2009 ? The Robert Morris University Colonials dropped their conference opener to the Towson Tigers, 11-9, on Saturday afternoon at Johnny Unitas Stadium. With the win Towson improved its record to 2-4 and 1-0 in conference action, while RMU dropped to 7-3 and 0-1 in the CAA.

Trevor Moore (Port Coquitlam, B.C. / Western Reserve Academy) led the Colonials with four goals and Corbyn Tao-Brambleby (Coquitlam, B.C. / Western Reserve Academy) notched two goals and one assist in the defeat. Junior Patrick Smith (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) led the squad in assists with three and Rob Laughner (Indianapolis, Ind. / Bishop Chatard) led the team in caused turnovers with three. Dan Kerch (Chesterfield, Mo. /. DeSmet) and Kyle Buchanan (Nepean, Ontario / John McCrae) tallied five ground balls apiece in the contest and Buchanan also recorded one goal.

For the sixth consecutive game, the Colonials notched the first goal of the game. Moore received a pass from Lee 2:10 into action and fired the ball into the net to take the early 1-0 lead. At 3:54 Buchanan increased that lead to 2-0 with his third goal of the season.

Within the next three minutes Towson knotted the score 2-2 with goals by Bill McCutcheon and Randall Cooper. For the next six minutes of the game both squads traded possession of the ball, but were not able to get a solid shot off.

Finally, with 2:55 left on the clock Tao-Brambleby was able to get the ball past Towson goalie Rob Wheeler to take back the lead, 3-2. However, before the end of the first quarter the Tigers were able to add two more goals to their collection to head into the second segment of play with a 4-3 advantage.

Robert Morris came out very aggressive in the second quarter, putting off two shots within the first minute of action. The second shot by Moore fell into Towson's net to knot the score 4-4. Towson responded a little over a minute later when Randall Cooper gave the Tigers their fifth goal.

Robert Morris and Towson played resilient defense throughout the remainder of the second quarter, with Towson allowing no Colonial goals and Robert Morris allowing just one more at 7:31. The two teams headed into the second half with the Tigers leading 6-4.

The strong defensive play by both teams continued, as neither Robert Morris nor Towson was able to connect on a shot for the first seven minutes of the quarter.

With 8:34 left on the clock Towson was able to find its way through RMU's defensemen and past RMU goalie Sal Barcia (West Islip, N.Y. / West Islip) and then Tiger Pat Britton scored less than a minute later to increase Towson's lead to 8-4.

The Colonials broke into Towson's lead with a goal by Lee at 10:42. The sophomore made back-to-back shots at the net and was able to connect on his second attempt. Within the last two minutes of the quarter the Tigers and the Colonials each tallied one more goal to set the score at 9-6 heading into the final quarter.

Tao-Brambleby scored the first goal of the fourth quarter at 2:57 to make it a two-goal game. Within the next five minutes, Towson's McCutcheon netted two goals to improve the Tigers' lead to 11-7. Taylor Caparosa (Annapolis, Md. / Annapolis) and Moore were able to score once more each before the end of the game, but it was not enough as the Tigers went on to win 11-9.  

The Colonials return to action on March 28 in Hempstead, N.Y. when the squad takes on conference foe Hofstra at 12:00 p.m.