LORETTO, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team closed the regular season Thursday with a, 17-11, win at instate conference rival Saint Francis (Pa.).
The Colonials (8-8, 7-2 NEC) scored 14 of the first 18 goals Thursday putting the Red Flash (4-12, 1-8 NEC) in a hole from which they were unable to recover. Colleen O'Donnell (Portland, Ore. / St. Mary's Academy) led the way for the Colonials with six goals, which ranks tied for the second most goals scored in a game by a Colonial. Rachel Engel (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Upper St. Clair) also posted a solid afternoon netting five goals and passing out three assist helping Robert Morris extend its winning streak to six games.
Robert Morris got off to a fast start netting the first seven goals of the game, Engel started things off a 1:10 into the game with her first goal of the afternoon. Engel did not waste any time adding her second goal scoring just 24 seconds later off an assists from MacKenzie Lawler (Okemos, Mich. / Okemos) to make it 2-0.
Emily VanDyne (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Thomas) made it 3-0 in favor of Robert Morris at the 24:58 mark of the first half off an assist from O'Donnell. Engel made it a hat trick at the 14:29 mark of the first half giving her three goals before Saint Francis (Pa.) had one. Her third goal of the game also gave RMU a 7-0 advantage.
The Red Flash battled back with three unanswered goals to cut the lead to 7-3 with 8:29 left in the first half. Elizabeth Sunseri (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) scored her second of the half and Kaleigh Gibbons (Candia, N.H. / Manchester Central) added another to make it a 9-3 Colonial edge at the half.
O'Donnell and Gibbons each scored in the first 4:29 of the second half to extend the Robert Morris advantage to 11-3. After a goal from SFU's Catherine Helming, Engel, Sunseri and O'Donnell each netted goals of their won to push the Colonial lead to 14-4 at the 17:28 mark of the second stanza.
The Red Flash tried to rally and scored seven of the final 10 goals in the game but it was not enough as the Colonial cruised to their eighth conference win of the season. O'Donnell stuffed the stat sheet with six goals, two assists, three draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Kaitlin Pentz (Sykesville, Md. / Century) stopped three shots on the afternoon in net for the Colonials. Robert Morris outshot Saint Francis (Pa.) 41-22 while also winning the ground ball battle (17-11) and controlling more draws (20-10).
Robert Morris now waits to see its seed in the Northeast Conference Tournament, which begins April 29. The Colonials can finish now lower than second and still has a shot to host the tournament as well as earn a share of the regular season NEC title.
