Hanover, N.H. – The Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team led for much of the day Saturday afternoon, but the Colonials were unable to finish on the road and dropped an 11-9 decision to Dartmouth on a sunny day at Scully-Fahey Field.

RMU trailed for fewer than six minutes out of a possible 60 Saturday but was behind when the final horn sounded. In fact, the Colonials have had a lead in the fourth quarter in every game thus far this season and each of their past 12 games overall.

Despite the setback, senior attackman Jake Hayes (Calgary, Alberta / Central Memorial) had a memorable day as he hit a significant milestone. Hayes' hat trick made him just the seventh Colonial in program history to surpass 100 career points.

With his three scores, Hayes extended his career long point streak to 20 games and moved his goal streak and multi-point streaks to 12 games each. Hayes notched his 25th career multi-point game, his 21st multi-goal outing and his 15th hat trick.

True freshman midfielder Eric Rankel (Philadelphia, Pa. / Downingtown West) continued the impressive start to his collegiate career by matching Hayes with a hat trick of his own. It was Rankel's second hat trick, third multi-goal game and his fifth multi-point outing in five career contests.

Redshirt senior attackman Dave Morton (Orangeville, Ontario / Hill School) scored on both of his shot attempts to post his 12th multi-goal effort in his past 13 outings. Morton tallied his 18th career multi-point game and his 14th multi-goal effort.

After Dartmouth opened the scoring with the game's first goal, Rankel, Morton and Hayes combined for four consecutive tallies to build a three-goal edge for the guests. This was part of a stretch in which Robert Morris held Dartmouth scoreless for over 20 straight minutes, spanning the first and second quarters.

The Big Green and the Colonials would each score once in the final five minutes of the half, and Robert Morris took a 5-2 advantage into intermission.

RMU would push its lead to four goals, 8-4, early in the third quarter thanks to the stick of Morton, but the Big Green finally sprang to life later in the same period.

Dartmouth scored three consecutive tallies in the final five minutes of the third quarter to pull within one and then evened the game on a goal 15 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Hayes would respond by putting RMU back on top near the midpoint of the final stanza, but the hosts closed the game on a 3-0 run, including a man-up tally and a clinching score with 39 seconds left, that sealed the deal.

Senior defenseman Ben Lewis (Cazenovia, N.Y. / Cazenovia Central) posted four caused turnovers and grabbed a ground ball for the Colonials. In doing so, Lewis moved into second place in career caused turnovers at RMU and is now just four behind the all-time school record.

Junior long-stick midfielder Tyler Rankel (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West) tied his career high with three caused turnovers on the day. He also went 6-for-12 on faceoffs and notched four ground balls.

Junior defenseman Sean Meagher (Chesterfield, Mo. / St. Louis University) scored his second-career goal to open the second-half scoring. It was Meagher's first point of the season and the fifth of his career.

Redshirt senior Charles Ruppert (Long Island, N.Y. / Massapequa) stopped 12 shots on the day to register his fifth straight game with double-digit saves and the 15th of his career. Ruppert has stopped more than half of the shots on goal he has faced in every game this season.

Redshirt junior midfielder Taylor Graves (Carlsbad, Calif. / Carlsbad) added an assist in the third quarter and has posted at least one point in each game this season.

RMU had a 30-28 advantage in ground balls on the day.

Robert Morris will have little time to dwell on Saturday's setback as the Colonials will be back in action in under 72 hours over 1,000 miles from where they played the Big Green. The Colonials will play at Jacksonville Tuesday, March 12, at 2:00 p.m.