Brooklyn, N.Y. - Prior to its season-defining game at LIU Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon, the Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team knew what it had to do to guarantee a berth in the Northeast Conference tournament for the second consecutive year.

Factoring in the possibility of a four-way tie for the fourth and final playoff seed, RMU's checklist looked like this:

1. Win the game.

2. Score 10 or more goals.

3. Allow fewer than seven.

These Colonials must be particularly goal-oriented, because they achieved all three in a two-hour span in New York City, downing the hometown Blackbirds 12-4 to extend their season. This is the third time in the past five years that RMU (10-6, 3-4 NEC) will be in the running for a league championship.

"They decided they didn't want to stop playing," said head coach Katy Phillips of her team. "We were aware of the (tiebreak) numbers but didn't focus on them. Our goal was to implement the game plan."

Phillips' squad achieved this landmark victory despite trailing 2-0 with nine minutes to go in the first half. From there, the Colonials ripped off seven straight goals and 10 of 11 to put themselves in a position where they simply had to take care of the ball over the final 12 minutes.

"Once we got the nerves out, we finally played a full game on both sides," said senior defender Kristi Marks. "We got more confident after our first goal and controlled the game from there."

Senior co-captain Kristin Yoviene and junior midfielder Corey Karwacki paced the RMU offense with three goals and four points each, with Emily Jamison (2g, 1a), Emma Baukhages (1g, 2a) and Brittany Byerly (1g, 2a) recording three points apiece. For Yoviene, the outburst stretched her scoring streak to 20 games and established a new program record for points in a season, with 66 (39g, 27a).

Eight of the Colonials' 12 goals were assisted, an impressive rate that showed their determination to have a pass-first mentality.

"After scouting LIU's defense, we knew that most of our goals today needed to be assisted," said Yoviene, who also moved into solo second place on the Colonials' all-time scoring list with 169 points, passing Jenn Collins (2006-09). "We definitely focused more on feeding the ball in the middle to come out of our sets with a goal, every time."

Freshman goalie Mackenzie Duffy also played a large role in conjunction with the RMU team defense, holding LIU Brooklyn well below its season average of 12.2 goals per game.

In just her second start over the past eight games, Duffy made eight saves, including many when the Colonials were struggling to get their attack going in the first half. Phillips called her performance "lights out."

RMU entered the game with the eighth-best offense in Division I (14.3 goals per game), so reaching double digits Sunday appeared to be the least challenging of their three objectives. However, the Colonials were just as impressive in their own side of the field, as their season-low four goals allowed ranks as their finest defensive performance of the spring.

Making the afternoon even more remarkable, RMU stifled the high-scoring Blackbirds with senior defender Haley Schemm out of the lineup due to a knee injury suffered last week.

"We knew what we had to do coming into the game, so we adjusted our defense to allow that to happen," said Marks, who teamed with fellow co-captain Schemm to lead the defense until the latter's injury. "(Sophomore defender) Megan Wolfgang shut down their best player (LIU's Jenn Peters), Mac made some big saves and the rest of our 'D' supported each other."

What projected to be an up-and-down score-fest between the NEC's two best offensive teams turned out to be the opposite, at least until the Colonials really got going with four straight goals to start the second half, opening up a 7-2 advantage. 

The deliberate nature of the game - there were just 37 combined shots - was probably due at least in part to the tiebreaker protocol that came down to total goals allowed. Even if it lost, LIU Brooklyn (7-9, 3-4 NEC) could have still made the tournament for the first time in program history by holding RMU under 10.

The Blackbirds couldn't pull it off, making Sacred Heart's game later in the day irrelevant to playoff seeding.

"Coming into the game was nerve-racking," Yoviene said. "I think we were all experiencing mixed emotions of excitement and nervousness, and obviously some uncertainty. But we knew we had a job to do and we played with confidence and got it done."

The Colonials' second-half surge was aided greatly by a dominant draw-control effort by junior midfielder Jessica Karwacki. The NCAA's all-time draw ace controlled nine on the day; more importantly, RMU won 14 of 18 possession battles at the center circle, effectively playing keepaway with the season on the line.

Sophomore Katie Breeze scored twice, her second multi-goal effort of the season, with Byerly (four ground balls) and junior Micah Brown (three caused turnovers) pacing the Colonials in the two main defensive categories.

All in all, Sunday represented quite the turnaround for the Colonials, who appeared to be a playoff longshot after a 13-9 loss at Sacred Heart two days ago. Prior to Sunday, RMU had lost four of its previous five games and was 0-3 on the road in NEC play.

Those negative trends are now erased, as the resilient Colonials prepare to face top-seeded Bryant in Friday's NEC semifinal round at Smithfield, R.I.

"We are going to have to play a disciplined game and capitalize on all the opportunities we get," Phillips said. "Our defense played amazing today and we will need another strong performance."

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