Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team took to the field for its final home game of the 2013 season as the Colonials played host to Mount St. Mary's Sunday afternoon. The Colonials would rebound from a five-goal deficit in the first half to claim a 14-9 victory after netting eleven goals in the second half.
After honoring seniors Angelina Gasparo (Philadelphia, Pa. / Nazareth Academy) and Tara Southworth (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) in a pregame ceremony, Robert Morris would get on the board first within the opening three minutes. Kristin Yoviene (Easton, Md. / Saints Peter and Paul) would score the first of her four goals in the contest as she converted on a free-position attempt. Mount St. Mary's would tie the game with a free-position goal of its own. Yoviene would regain the lead for the Colonials with her second goal in the first ten minutes of the game for the 2-1 lead.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the Colonial offense would be nonexistent as the Mountaineers controlled possession en route to scoring six consecutive goals to take a 7-2 lead. The offense would get back on track before the end of the half as Jessica Karwacki (Sparks, Md. / Hereford) scored with two minutes remaining to make the score 7-3 at halftime.
Continuing off of the final goal scored in the first half, Robert Morris would open the second half with three goals to cut the deficit to a single goal. MacKenzie Lawler (Okemos, Mich. / Okemos) would find the back of the net five minutes in to the half before Yoviene completed her third hat trick of the season. Lauren Roberts (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) would make the score 7-6 with twenty minutes remaining as the Colonials answered the six-goal run by Mount St. Mary's with four goals of their own.
The Mountaineers would put a brief stop to the offensive attack of Robert Morris with a goal that would allow them to regain their two-goal lead, 8-6. Less than 90 seconds after the goal by Mount St. Mary's, the RMU attack was back in full force as the Colonials rattled off six goals in a span of ten minutes. Jessica Rutherford (Pylesville, Md. / North Harford) would bring Robert Morris back to within a goal, 8-7 before Brittany Byerly (Wexford, Pa. / Pine-Richland) tied the contest with thirteen minutes remaining.
Rutherford would then give the Colonials the lead for the first time since the opening ten minutes of the game with her second goal of the contest. The lead would continue to grow as Yoviene picked up her fourth goal of the game to make the score 10-8. Byerly and Lawler would each contribute their second goal of the afternoon as the lead ballooned to 12-8 with six minutes remaining.
Mount St. Mary's would cut the advantage for the Colonials to three goals with the score 12-9 before Robert Morris closed out the game with two empty-net goals. Rachel Cox (Pasadena, Md. / Chesapeake) picked up her first goal of the season before Emily Jamison (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Hills) netted the final goal of the game in a 14-9 victory.
After getting outshot in the first half, the Colonials turned on the pressure with sixteen second-half shots while holding Mount St. Mary's to four shots. Robert Morris held the statistical edge in almost every category including the advantage in ground balls and turnovers.
Gasparo would make her first career start on Senior Day and record two saves before giving way to Kaitlin Pentz (Sykesville, Md. / Century) who picked up the win to improve her record to 7-6 this season. After scoring just four goals in her first eight games, Yoviene has found the back of the net sixteen times in the five most recent games for Robert Morris. Cox led the team with two caused turnovers as RMU held an opponent to under ten goals for the fifth time this season.
The Colonials have just three games remaining to make a push for a spot in the NEC Tournament. Robert Morris has just one game on the schedule for next week as the squad travels to St. Francis (Pa.) for a contest on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
