Men's Lacrosse | 12/24/2018 3:58:00 PM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, coming off an unprecedented Northeast Conference championship and NCAA Tournament trip, will try to repeat program history in 2019, and it will face a number of repeat opponents in its quest to do so when the new spring season begins.
In addition to its annual six-game slate of NECÂ matchups, the Colonials will have seven contests against out-of-conference foes that appeared on their 2018 schedule. The team has officially made the last major adjustment to its 2019 calendar, adding a game against Lehigh that will take place Wed., Apr. 10 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
RMU will face four teams in 2019 that were named in the
Inside Lacrosse Preseason Top-25 Poll, including the No. 13 Mountain Hawks, last year's Patriot League runners-up. The Colonials open their 15th season at the NCAA Division I level Sat., Feb. 9, when they take on preseason media No. 10 Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania.
"We are excited for yet another very competitive schedule for 2019. The parity in our sport ensures that every opponent is capable of providing a great challenge," said eighth-year head coach
Andrew McMinn. "As always, we will prepare for each opponent the same and will keep our focus on the guys in red and blue."
That 2019 curtain-raiser is an interesting one for both Keystone State squads, who last faced each other Feb. 24, 2018 at Panzer Stadium in what could be considered the turning point of last season for Robert Morris. The Colonials attracted national attention when they rallied to upend the No. 16/15 Nittany Lions 12-9, igniting an overall five-game winning streak and 9-1 hot streak that led to the capture of their third straight NEC Tournament berth.
Furthermore, that win, their first ever against an active member of the Big Ten Conference, began a school-record run of 12 consecutive weeks in which the Colonials, minimally, received votes in the national media polls. The latest one from
Inside Lacrosse has extended this streak to 13.
Georgetown, which grabbed the Big East title in 2018 and comes in at No. 21 in the magazine's preseason poll, welcomes Robert Morris to Washington, D.C., Sat., Feb. 16 for a noon Eastern Time contest. This will be the third year in a row the Hoyas have appeared on the non-conference schedule for the Colonials, who first visited Cooper Field Mar. 7, 2017.
Robert Morris will host Bellarmine in its 2019 home opener Sat., Feb. 23, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET at Joe Walton Stadium. This will mark its 14th all-time meeting with the Knights, the most commonly played non-conference opponent in RMU history.
The first home game for the Colonials also promises to be an entertaining one, as six of the previous seven meetings with their Southern Conference counterparts have been decided by three or fewer goals. Among those was the Feb. 11, 2017 matchup, a 10-8 Robert Morris win over the Knights in their last visit to Moon Township.
On Feb. 9, 2018, RMU busted loose for a 15-7 victory over Bellarmine in Louisville, Kentucky, its first win of last season.
The Colonials will head to Fairfield, Connecticut to open conference play against NEC rival Sacred Heart Sat., Mar. 16 at 12:00 p.m. EDT. Their NEC lid-lifter will feature a showdown between twoÂ
Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans: RMU senior goalkeeper
Alex Heger (First Team) and SHU midfielder Max Tuttle (Second Team).
Last season, Robert Morris overcame Tuttle and the Pioneers, 12-8, to begin NEC play with a St. Patrick's Day triumph at Joe Walton Stadium. On their last trip to the Pitt Center, Mar. 18, 2017, the Colonials took down the Pios by a 12-9 count.
Heger made a season-high 19 saves in a 15-5 win at Mount St. Mary's Mar. 24, 2018. This time, the Mount will provide the first conference competition at RMU when the NEC schools collide Sat., Mar. 23 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
Robert Morris has taken seven of the past eight meetings between the two. The Colonials memorably defeated the Mountaineers 11-10 in overtime Mar. 25, 2017, their last appearance at Joe Walton Stadium, on a sudden-victory goal by attackmanÂ
Ryan Smith, who returns for his junior season in 2019.
On Sat., Mar. 30 the Colonials have a 1:00 p.m. ET date with St. Joseph's in Philadelphia for what should be an emotional conference game for both sides. A tight 2018 NEC regular-season race saw the Hawks prevail in a photo finish, as they edged Robert Morris 8-7 on Senior Day at Joe Walton Stadium. On May 5, 2018, just one week later, RMU turned the tables at Sweeney Field, coming from behind to beat SJU, 9-8, on a goal by midfielder and 2019 senior
Tyson Gibson with ten seconds left in OT that gave the Colonials their first conference tournament crown.
Senior Day 2019 is scheduled for Sat., Apr. 27 at 1:00 p.m. EDT versus Hobart, another formidable NEC foe. The Statesmen won a wild Senior Day showdown at Joe Walton Stadium in 2017, but the Colonials avenged that defeat Apr. 7, 2018, when their first overtime tally of the year, by 2019 redshirt senior attackman
Matt Schmidt, produced a 10-9 RMU victory that snapped its four-game losing streak against that team.
The Colonials, the westernmost team in the Northeast Conference, will make their longest regularly scheduled road trip of the year--approximately 570 miles--to battle perennial NEC contender and preseason No. 25 Bryant Sat., Apr. 20. The opening faceoff from Smithfield, Rhode Island is set for noon EDT.
Robert Morris rebounded from a regular-season setback against the Bulldogs by unseating the defending tournament champions, 12-5, in the NEC Semifinal in Philadelphia May 3, 2018.
Also of intrigue is RMU's out-of-conference test against visiting Canisius Sat., Mar. 9 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, a rematch of the Opening Round of the NCAA Tournament. After prevailing 11-9 over the Golden Griffins in a back-and-forth affair Apr. 10, 2018, the Colonials returned to Buffalo, New York for the aforementioned pigtail game and rolled to a 12-6 result over the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champs, their first NCAA Tournament win in team history.
Robert Morris comes into the new year with seven straight wins over Canisius. When they last met in Moon, they did so under the moon, with RMU defeating the Griffs, 12-7, on Apr. 18, 2017 in just the second night game ever played at Joe Walton Stadium.
The 2019 Colonials are No. 18 in the
Inside Lacrosse preseason poll and return a number of key ingredients to their historic postseason run, including two-time All-NEC First Team selections Heger and Gibson and 2018 All-NEC Second Team honorees Schmidt and
Ryan Smith.
With 24 career victories, Heger needs just one more to become the winningest keeper in RMU history. The 2018 NEC Tournament MVP enters his senior year as the school's all-time leader in saves (474) and save percentage (.578). Redshirt sophomore
Chris Reynolds, who proved himself as a backup by shutting down Canisius in the NCAA Tournament, will line up behind Heger on the depth chart again.
Gibson, meanwhile, emerged as one of the top playmakers in the NEC in 2018 even before his golden goal. The 6'1," 188-pound Maple, Ontario native produced 46 points, third-most on the team, and his 24 assists tied for the third-most in the conference.
Schmidt, the two-time team leader in goals, netted 36 last season, which also ranked third in the NEC. Additionally, his nine man-up markers in 2018, while tying for the fifth-most in Division I, set a new Robert Morris single-year record. Versatile
Ryan Smith also appears poised for a strong year after contributing 30 points (17 G, 13 A), fourth-most on the team, in a supporting role last spring.
Offensively, youth will be served by sophomore attackmanÂ
Corson Kealey, who lived up to his surname by recording 16 goals and 26 points as a freshman and representing the Colonials on the 2018 All-NEC Rookie Team.
Defensively, seniors
Will Ewing and
Mike Eveland will bring their wealth of experience to RMU's revamped 2019 leadership group, which also includes Schmidt and Gibson. Ewing collected 19 ground balls and caused 13 turnovers in 2018, both career highs, and Eveland enters the season with 38 career GB's and 24 CT's at Robert Morris.
On the back end, the bar was raised by the 2018 squad, which shattered the Robert Morris record with its team GAA of 8.00. Critical to the Colonials' success in front of Heger going forward will be the play of senior defenseman
Jack Toomb, who has made the All-NEC Second Team two years in a row as a long stick midfielder.
Toomb set a career high with 19 caused turnovers as a junior. The 6'3", 195-pound Cincinnati native enters his final collegiate season fourth in program history with 165 career ground balls after finishing second on the Colonials with 53 last spring.
Another notable returnee, faceoff specialist
Trey Arnold, seeks a breakout season after leading RMU with 57 ground balls and surpassing 300 career faceoff wins as a sophomore while matching up with several of the nation's top players at the position. Sophomore FOGO Michael Autry, who transferred from Bellarmine this past summer, is expected to challenge for playing time as well.
McMinn also reached milestones in 2018, picking up his 50th career coaching victory in the win at Hobart and presiding over his 100th career game the following week at Canisius, which was also the 200th official game in Colonials history.
Once again, admission to all Robert Morris men's lacrosse home games will be free. Before launching their regular campaign, the Colonials host Division II and III powers Seton Hill and Denison for staggered scrimmages on Sat., Feb. 2, 2019 that will also be open to the general public.
For the sixth year in a row, all home games and most Northeast Conference contests can be seen live, for free, on
NEC Front Row. Gero von Dehn and Bruce Phillips will return to provide play-by-play and color commentary for the entire home slate.
Visit
RMUColonials.com for the full 2019 schedule, including further information on start times and live coverage as it becomes available.
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