Moon Township, Pa. - Robert Morris University women's lacrosse won its sixth game in a row with a 22-13 triumph over Saint Francis on Friday afternoon. The Colonials are now 9-4 overall with a 3-0 mark in Northeast Conference play. Sophomore Kerri Sayrafe set a new Robert Morris single-game record, scoring eight goals in the Colonials win.

The Red Flash struck first but RMU quickly erased what would prove to be SFU's only lead of the game. Sayrafe tied things up at one apiece before Annie Sachs tallied her first, Sayrafe scored her second, and Meghan Crouse joined in to make it 4-1 Colonials. Sayrafe's second came off a pass from Mackenzie Gandy, her first of five assists in the game. SFU then scored a player-up goal followed by Maggie Stella and Katie Breeze scoring their first.

A two-goal response by the Red Flash cut RMU's lead to two. Sophia Eureka fired in her third goal of the season off an assist by Gandy, but SFU came back with another pair of goals and made it a one-goal game, RMU leading 7-6.

Sayrafe followed with her third and fourth goals of the game just 32 seconds apart, beginning a 9-2 run that closed the first half and opened up the second, giving Robert Morris a 16-8 lead just over ten minutes into the second half. Both of Sayrafe's goals were assisted by Gandy, before she put one in the back of the net herself, her 20th goal of the season. Sayrafe's sixth and seventh goals were coupled with a pair of goals by Sachs to grab her seventh hat trick of the season and make it 16-8 RMU.

The Red Flash answered with a four-goal stretch before the Colonials came back with a five-goal run to put the game away out of reach. Crouse, Sayrafe and Breeze were part of the five-goal run, with Breeze landing the hat trick. That five-goal burst was capped with two goals by Dana Davis, who finished off a hat trick with all three of her goals coming in the final 6:14 of the game.

Sayrafe's eight goals are the most in a single-game in RMU history, topping the previous number of seven (Talia Waskowicz vs. SFU 3/31/12; Alana Beck at Central Conn. 4/18/10). Sayrafe also joins seven other eight-point performances to tie for fourth all-time in points in a single game at RMU. Gandy's five assists are tied for sixth place in the Colonials record books, the third-highest single-game total by an RMU player.



RMU racked up 51 shots -- 11 by Sayrafe (4th all-time) -- the third-highest total in RMU single-game history. The Colonials also matched the third-highest all-time mark for goals with 22, tying the season-high set vs. Saint Mary's on February 24th.

"We just worked the ball around," said Sayrafe. "It was very much a team effort today, it wasn't all me, there were a lot of assists."

"It keeps our momentum going for the next couple of games," Sayrafe said of the win, "especially being undefeated on our home field." 

The Colonials ground game and defense were solid. Robert Morris collected a 31 ground balls, a category in which RMU is ranked third nationally, averaging 24 per game. The Colonials had by far the best outing of the season when it comes to draw controls, earning 24 wins on the draw, tied for the second-highest single-game total in program history. Robert Morris caused 12 turnovers as well and are the number one team in the NCAA in that category.

Davis led the way in ground balls with five, while Sayrafe and Sachs each picked up four. Gandy, Crouse and defender Megan Wolfgang each collected three. The senior defender Wolfgang led the team in caused turnovers with four and Gandy was the only other player with two, while six Colonials each caused one. Crouse and Sachs each won six draw controls and Davis picked up five. Breeze and Thalia Zolis each had two.

Freshman Katelyn Miller made five saves, while sophomore Sarah Arnold saw her second bout of action in goal this season making one save.

Robert Morris is home for two games next weekend as Central Connecticut visits on Friday and Bryant comes to town on Sunday. 

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