Moon Township, Pa. - After winning three of its first four games, all of which came away from home, the Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team earned votes in a national poll for a second-consecutive week.
RMU has now been listed in the also receiving votes section of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Coaches' Poll in each of the poll's first two regular-season editions.
The Colonials opened the season by posting road wins over both Bellarmine and UMBC. The pair of victories was made even more impressive since Robert Morris did not trail in either affair.
This past weekend RMU headed west of the Mississippi River for the first time in program history as it participated in the DU Face-Off Classic, hosted by Denver. The Colonials broke out offensively in their opener Saturday as they downed Air Force, for the second time in three years, by a 17-14 margin. While RMU did trail early on, the Colonials never were down by more than one goal and also were never behind from the beginning of the second quarter onward.
Junior Jake Hayes (Calgary, Alberta / Central Memorial) led RMU to its third win as he registered one of the finer offensive performances in program history against the Falcons, matching the school records for both goals (seven) and points (eight) in a single game. Hayes subsequently earned Northeast Conference (NEC) Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second straight time as he was named to the All-Tournament Team after finishing with nine goals (on just nine shots) for the weekend.
Hayes, who ranked second nationally in shooting percentage at the beginning of the week, leads the team in both goals (13) and points (17) but is closely followed by senior Kiel Matisz (Stoney Creek, Ontario / Saltfleet), who has 16 points on eight goals and eight helpers.
Robert Morris' lone setback thus far in 2012 came to nationally-ranked Denver, a 2011 Final Four squad, as it was playing for the second time in as many days in thin mile-high air.
RMU was the lone NEC school to post three wins before the calendar flipped to March.
Robert Morris will finally get to play in front of a home crowd this weekend as the Colonials open their home slate at Noon Saturday, March 3, against Colgate, a squad which is also receiving votes nationally. It will be the second meeting between the two programs and the first time in which RMU will host the Raiders.
