Moon Township, Pa. - Redshirt junior Dillon Pope (Smithtown, N.Y. / Smithtown West) of the Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team earned his first-ever weekly recognition as he was selected as the Northeast Conference's (NEC) Co-Defensive Player of the Week in a recent league release.
Pope claimed the accolade after playing a crucial role between the pipes in RMU's upset victory over nationally-ranked Ohio State last Friday evening.
Pope becomes the fourth Colonial to have earned honors in the NEC's Defensive Player of the Week category. Additionally, with this selection, three of the current netminders on the RMU roster have now claimed weekly league recognition.
Pope earned his first start in between the pipes since 2010 and certainly delivered in a big spot for Robert Morris. Pope stopped a game-high 13 shots while allowing only seven scores, posting a .650 save percentage for the contest, to help RMU knock off nationally-ranked Ohio State. The saves total was one off of his career best and also represented his best-ever mark in a road contest. Pope also notched a career-high and game-best eight ground balls while holding the Buckeyes to just one goal in five extra-man opportunities. Pope now has 26 combined saves in his last two outings, a new career best for back-to-back games.
The win gave RMU its second straight triumph over the Buckeyes and was also the program's second victory over a nationally-ranked team in its past eight games against non-conference opponents.
Pope's performance in net also helped RMU maintain its strong standing nationally in saves as the Colonials currently rank sixth across the country in saves per game.
Robert Morris has now tallied a league-leading five weekly awards thus far this season while Pope becomes the sixth active Colonial to earn weekly NEC honors.
RMU continues its three-game roadtrip this Saturday, March 17, as it plays at Hobart for the first time in program history. The opening faceoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
