UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Head coach Andrew McMinn has always promoted a culture of self-awareness on the Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, paying no attention to the status of its competition, though after what it accomplished Saturday afternoon, he might want to make an exception to his focus-on-us philosophy.

The Colonials (2-2) broke open a tight non-conference contest with six goals in the fourth quarter to shock No. 16/15 Penn State, 12-9, at Panzer Stadium. Redshirt junior attackman Jimmy Perkins led the offense against the Nittany Lions (2-2), continuing his amazing start to the season with a second straight hat trick and six-point performance.

"We, as a team, and the staff don't really pay attention to rankings and stuff like that. But I know it was big for these seniors. They're a team we've played a lot, and it was good to get that signature win," Perkins said. "It was good to kind of get that monkey off our back. People always tell us we can hang with a lot of teams, and we know that. I think we were kind of sick of hearing that. It was just a matter of going out and getting it done."

This was only the third instance in the McMinn era of Robert Morris defeating a ranked opponent, and the first since a win over No. 20 Bryant in Northeast Conference play Apr. 28, 2012. It is only the fourth win over a ranked team in program history.

"Coming into the half, we knew it was a new 30 minutes, and that we had to just bring it. Guys really just stepped up, especially in that fourth quarter," said Perkins.

RMU entered that final period trailing 7-6, but Tyson Gibson wasted no time tying the match. The junior midfielder buried his fifth goal of the year after just nine seconds.

Perkins, who had forged a 2-2 tie with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter, gave Robert Morris a lead it would never surrender with 11:18 remaining in regulation, assisted by sophomore attacker Ryan Smith. The multi-sport champion from Quaker Valley High School collected his third of the game and ninth of the young season just a little over two minutes later.

"The transition game and keeping things simple were the two biggest things. Our defense was making a ton of stops for us. They shut down No. 3 (Mac O'Keefe) for them," Perkins said. "So many things went into it. But keeping it simple and not turning the ball over definitely helped us."

The Colonials defense snapped a 19-game goal streak by O'Keefe that was the third-longest active streak in D-I a little over a year after he torched them for seven goals, one of the best debuts ever by a Nittany Lions freshman.

Zac Christianson and Jack Toomb, who scored his first NCAA goal against PSU in last year's meeting, co-led RMU with four ground balls apiece, and Gibson, Zachary Bryant and junior goalkeeper Alex Heger each collected three.

Christianson and Bryant each caused two turnovers as well, as did Will Ewing and James Scane, and Heger came up big down the stretch, finishing with a season-high 11 saves.

Smith, meanwhile, who had scored just a second before the second quarter horn for a 6-6 tie and momentum at halftime, set up senior midfielder Carter Yepsen for his second of the campaign, extending the Colonials' lead to 10-7.

The ninth goal of the year by Ryan Keenan for Penn State proved too little, too late, as faceoff specialist Trey Arnold answered right off the ensuing draw, on the same campus where he made his collegiate debut Feb. 4, 2017.

Matt Schmidt, who assisted on Perkins' first goal of the day, saw his fellow redshirt junior return the favor with his final assist at 2:20 left in the fourth.

"Again, I think it comes back to keeping things simple," he offered. "Don't go above and beyond trying to make crazy plays, and the points will come. Not turning the ball over is one of the big emphases of our offense. A lot of hard work over the years is finally starting to pay off."

In his amazing first month of play, Perkins, a two-time NEC Prime Performer, has stormed out to the Northeast Conference lead with nine goals and 12 helpers for 21 points.

And so, after proving against Georgetown last weekend, and at then-No. 7/8 Rutgers Feb. 3 that, on their best day, the Colonials can hang with the top teams in Division I, they proved they could beat one.

"It was a matter of playing a full 60 minutes," Perkins explained. "There were times in those other games where we let them get the best of us, or little things that we tried to do too much in certain areas. Here, we just stayed true to ourselves and played to the last whistle for four solid quarters, and it paid off."

Now Robert Morris returns home walking a little taller in advance of its visit from High Point next Saturday. The opening faceoff from Joe Walton Stadium is set for 3:00 p.m., part of a women's/men's team doubleheader, and admission, as always, is free.

The women's team has a non-conference contest against George Washington at 11:30 a.m. Mar. 3.

"We just tried to keep our focus on the game throughout the whole game," Perkins said. "We knew they were going to be a tough, competitive team all the way through, but we knew it was the kind of game that we had a chance to take advantage of, and that's exactly what we did."

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