Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team came out firing in the second half, but fell short of time to make up for its first half deficit and ultimately suffered a tough, one-goal setback to four-time defending Northeast Conference champion Bryant, 13-12, Saturday afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium.
 
The Colonials (4-6, 2-1) saw their two-goal win streak snapped by the Bulldogs (5-3, 1-0), who opened their NEC schedule by a narrow margin of victory.
 
Senior midfield James Rahe matched his career-high six points with two goals and a career-best four assists. He posted four of his six points in the second half. Senior attack Luke Laszkiewicz scored a team-leading five goals and added one assist to match Rahe's offensive output. Sophomore attack Adrian Torok-Orban tallied his fifth hat trick in seven games and dished one assist.
 
Senior long stick midfield Clay Fickenscher forced a career-best three caused turnovers. In his second career start, freshman goalkeeper Alex Heger turned away 12 shots, including five in the fourth quarter to give the Colonials a solid chance to complete the comeback.
 
RMU scored three consecutive goals in 90 seconds to make a final push for victory in the fourth quarter. Rahe extended the Colonials' run to four goals with 2:02 remaining in the final frame to bring the home team within one. The Bulldogs won the ensuing faceoff, but Heger made a crucial stop to hold off the opponent and secured possession for the Colonials with less than a minute remaining.
 
With thirty-three seconds left, Robert Morris came out of its final timeout and executed one last play designed to get the ball in the pocket of Laszkiewicz, who had the hot stick all afternoon. The senior fired one final shot at the 0:21 mark, but Bryant goalkeeper Gunnar Waldt made the pivotal stop. The Bulldogs picked up the resultant ground ball and carried it down to their offensive end as the clock expired.
 
The Colonials kicked off the second half with a 5-1 run, capped by a man-up goal from freshman Eddie Smith that cut the Bulldogs' lead to two. Robert Morris continued to chip away at the Bryant advantage throughout the second half, but was unable to gain a lead at any point during the sixty minutes of action.
 
Robert Morris trailed by as many as six goals in the first half, but its offense came alive in the second and racked up 30 of its season-high 51 shots in the final thirty minutes of the game. The Colonials edged the Bulldogs in shots, 51-38, and won the faceoff battle, 15-14.
 
RMU plays three of its next four on the road, including next Saturday's NEC matchup at Hobart scheduled for noon in Geneva, N.Y.
 
 
Hot Streaks
Sophomore attack Adrian Torok-Orban and senior midfield James Rahe have posted points in their last nine outings.
 
Finishing Strong
Fourth-year attack Luke Laszkiewicz is putting together an impressive senior campaign. He has now scored 30 goals or more in his last two seasons and has recorded a season-high 11 assists and 42 points in 2016 with four regular-season games remaining. Laszkiewicz leads the NEC in goals (31) and goals per game (3.10), and ranks sixth in the nation in goals per game.
 
 
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