MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team scored seven unanswered goals over the final 16 minutes Friday to rally past Mount St. Mary's at Joe Walton Stadium and earned a, 15-12, win.
The Colonials (6-8, 5-2 NEC) trailed a majority of the game and did not take their first lead until there were just 5:55 left in regulation. The Mountaineers (5-9, 4-2 NEC) were held scoreless over the final 19:12 of the contest and picked up just their second conference loss of the season. The current Northeast Conference player of the week, Ashley Trombetta (Sykesville, Md. / Century) led Robert Morris offensively with six points while Colleen O'Donnell (Portland, Ore. / St. Mary's Academy) netted four goals, picked up five ground balls and caused six turnovers.
Mount St. Mary's jumped out to an early lead scoring four of the first five goals in the game to earn a 4-1 advantage at the 15:50 mark of the first half. Following the fast start from the Mountaineers, head women's lacrosse coach Katy Phillips called a timeout and Robert Morris responded with three unanswered goals to tie the game at four.
Trombetta netted her first goal of the game at the 15:33 mark of the first half and then she assisted on Emily VanDyne 's (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Thomas) goal with 14:21 left in the first half. Cara Hernandez (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany) tied the game at four at the 13:33 mark off an assist from MacKenzie Lawler (Okemos, Mich. / Okemos). The Mountaineers responded with three unanswered goals of their own including the second of the game for Nicole Price and the second of the contest from Esther Rufolo to give Mount St. Mary's a 7-4 lead with 5:24 left in the first half.
O'Donnell cut into the Mountaineer lead with back-to-back goals 30 seconds apart. The pair of goals from O'Donnell cut the Mount St. Mary's lead to 7-6 but the Mountaineers scored twice in the final 14 seconds to hold a 9-6 halftime advantage.
O'Donnell netted the first two goal of the second half to cut the Mount St. Mary's lead to just one with 26:48 left in regulation. Mount St. Mary's responded with three unanswered goals including the fourth of the game from Rufolo. But Mary Macadam's goal at the 19:13 mark would be their final of the game as the Colonials closed the game on a seven-goal run.
VanDyne started the seven-goal run at the 16:00 minute mark with her third goal of the game and Rachel Engel (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Upper St. Clair) cut the Mount St. Mary's lead to two 25 seconds later. Elizabeth Sunseri (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) made it a one goal game with 10:20 left in regulation.
Trombetta then tied on a free position shot at the 9:13 mark of the second half. Engel scored the game-winning goal with 5:55 left in second stanza off an assist from Sunseri. Trombetta and Sunseri each added goal in the final four minutes to put the game out of reach for the Mountaineers.
Kaitlin Pentz (Sykesville, Md. / Century) stopped six shots including four in the first half. O'Donnell's six caused turnovers tied her career and season highs. The junior also has four or more goals in her past three games.
Robert Morris returns to action for Senior Day at 1 p.m. Sunday against Northeast Conference foe Monmouth at Joe Walton Stadium.
