Emmitsburg, Md. – Robert Morris University women's lacrosse opened Northeast Conference play with a 7-6 win over Mount St. Mary's on the road Friday afternoon.
Sophomore
Maggie Stella led the Colonials across the board with her fourth hat trick of the season, also collecting three ground balls and dealing four of the team's 13 caused turnovers. Freshman
Annie Sachs also had a three-point game with a pair of goals and an assist to go with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while classmate freshman goalkeeper
Katelyn Miller made nine saves including six in the second half.
Sachs opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game, evading a defender, turning and firing over the goalkeeper to put Robert Morris ahead 1-0. Junior
Dana Davis intercepted a pass a few minutes later and the caused turnover and ground ball leads to a goal as
Katie Breeze finds a cutting Stella who bounces the ball in to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead.
After Mount St. Mary's leading scorer Sammie Knapp cut the RMU lead to one, Sachs scored her second of the game on an off-hand highlight reel goal with 17:52 remaining in the opening half to put the Colonials up 3-1. The Mount made it 3-2 less than two minutes later with a goal by Carly Miller.
Sachs and fellow freshman
Mackenzie Gandy combined for RMU's fourth goal of the game with Sachs dishing to Gandy who drove hard to the net for the score to make it 4-2 Colonials.
The Mount looked to respond with under eight minutes to play in the half but the goalkeeper Miller was there for the stop. With 3:07 left in the half, another attempt by Mount St. Mary's was knocked down by Miller, holding the score at 4-2. The Mount was finally able to get one past Miller with 1:14 to go in the half, Knapp scoring her second of the game.
The Colonials took a 4-3 lead into the halftime break, raking in 14 ground balls and causing 10 turnovers. Four of those ground balls were picked up by Davis who entered the weekend ranked sixth in the NCAA in that category.
Less than two minutes into the second half, Miller made her fourth save of the game on a free position shot. A Miller on Miller battle went to
Katelyn Miller as The Mount's Carly Miller is stopped by the Colonials freshman 3:13 into the second half. Miller nabbed her sixth save of the game, thwarting The Mount's sharpshooter Knapp 4:40 into the half.
Less than a minute later, The Mount's attack finally breaks through on a goal by Kelly Maloney to tie the game 4-4. Maloney goes back-to-back with her second of the game to give Mount St. Mary's its first lead of the game 5-4 before Taylor Carhart added another to make it 6-4, RMU down by two.
Just 24 seconds after The Mount took a 6-4 lead, the Colonials took control. Stella powered through the defense and switched hands to put home RMU's first goal of the second half, with 13:27 remaining. Davis fired a long-range shot to score her first of the day, tying the game 6-6.
Stella completed the hat trick to give the Colonials back the lead with RMU's third goal in the span of two minutes and twelve seconds. Robert Morris takes a 7-6 advantage with 11:15 to play and holds on in a nailbiter the rest of the way.
The Colonials defense stood tall, keeping The Mount off the board for the final 13:51, including nearly forcing a possession clock violation with under four minutes to play, causing a turnover instead.
Robert Morris, the NCAA's leader in caused turnovers, finished the game with 13, collecting 24 ground balls as well, adding to their current position atop the NEC & No. 4 ranking in the NCAA in that category.
Breeze and
Kerri Sayrafe each picked up three ground balls and two caused turnovers while defenders
Megan Wolfgang and
Bailey Skubon each had a pair of ground balls, Skubon also causing a turnover. Freshman
Kelly Colegrove also made her mark with a ground ball and caused turnover.
The Colonials outshot The Mount 29-20 (19-15 SOG) and won nine of the game's 14 draw controls.
Robert Morris (7-4, 1-0 NEC) heads to face defending conference champion Wagner on the Seahawks home turf on Sunday at Noon.
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