EMMITSBURG, Md. -- On Saturday afternoon, the No. 20/14 Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, again, confronted an opponent that tried to test the patience of its defense, and, again, it was the opponent that instead lost its poise, and, ultimately, the game.

The Colonials (6-2, 2-0) scored six unanswered goals in the first quarter and killed off five of five extra-man opportunities to take control and cruise past Mount St. Mary's, 15-5, in Northeast Conference play at Waldron Family Stadium, their fifth straight victory overall.

Junior goalkeeper Alex Heger made a season-high 19 saves, one shy of his personal best, and held the Mountaineers (3-6, 0-2) scoreless over the final 27 minutes of regulation, while redshirt junior and senior attackmen Matt Schmidt and Adrian Torok-Orban both contributed hat tricks.

Schmidt, who continues to lead RMU with 20 goals, now has multiple tallies in seven straight matches, and Torok-Orban continues to lead all active Colonials in career scores against the Mount, now with eight.

Statistically, Mount St. Mary's was the superior team through the first two periods in terms of faceoffs, ground balls, clears and shots, but Robert Morris was the more efficient one. The Colonials concluded their day with 60 percent shot-on-goal accuracy, and they began it by scoring their first five goals in transition.

After the Mountaineers got two in just over three minutes, RMU settled down defensively and Schmidt found Torok-Orban at the right corner of the crease to put Bobby Mo on the board with 10:55 to go in the first quarter. The Toronto native beat starting keeper Luke Mutterer from the same spot with 8:14 remaining to tie the game.

Robert Morris took a lead it would not relinquish about a minute-and-a-half later. Heger made a stop and a long toss to senior long stick midfielder Mitchell Wales, who took it in stride inside the center circle and went right down the middle of the offensive zone to complete the coast-to-coast play with his sixth career goal and second of 2018.

With 5:17 left, Schmidt buried a shot from the left elbow that gave RMU a 4-2 advantage and gave redshirt junior attackman Jimmy Perkins his NEC-leading 18th assist. The Quaker Valley High School product came in averaging 2.43 per game.

Conner Yepsen maneuvered skillfully around the Mount's defense and got one past the shoulder of Mutterer to make it a 5-2 contest just over a minute later, then Ryan Smith, fittingly, scored what would prove to be the game-winner with 2:46 left, almost a year to the day after his overtime goal sunk the Mountaineers. He earned his eighth of the year on a wicked mid-range shot assisted by Tyson Gibson.

Henry Berg finally got one back for the Mount, but it could scarcely mount a serious threat. RMU got a minor scare when Chris DiPretoro cut its lead to 7-4 and Heger, after being shaken up from absorbing a hard shot by DiPretoro, had to come out briefly just as Mount St. Mary's got a man-up opportunity. However, the Colonials defense hung tough, including a couple saves by Chris Reynolds in 1:24 of relief, and James Scane buried his first career goal from distance with 3:21 to play in the half.

Schmidt, one of the nation's top players in man-ups with seven EMO goals on the season, got two, two minutes apart, to spark Robert Morris in the second half and finish off his HT. His left-wing fling early in a two-man advantage for RMU made it 9-5 with 11:21 to go in the third quarter, and he extended the visitors' lead to 11-5 from the same area.

An early fourth-quarter one-timer by Torok-Orban under pressure, set up by Schmidt, capped off his hatty. Later, rookie Corson Kealey extended his goal streak to seven games, and Zac Lynch scored for the first time this season to wrap up a 7-0 RMU run and provide the final margin.

The five points by Schmidt led all competitors, and Tyson Gibson, who added his tenth goal of the season, equaled Schmidt's two assists.

There were numerous heroes at the other end for Robert Morris, which entered Saturday tied for 11th in Division I with its team goals-against average of 8.57. Heger collected three ground balls, as did junior defenseman Will Ewing, who was recently named an NEC Prime Performer. Trey Arnold led all Colonials with five, and Wales scooped up four.

Even Perkins got into the act defensively, contributing two GB's and three of his team's 11 caused turnovers. Senior D-man Zac Christianson also had three CT's, becoming just the fifth player in program history to surpass 50 for his career.

Next Friday night, No. 20/14 Robert Morris meets conference rival Bryant for the first time since last year's NEC Tournament Semifinal in search of its sixth win in a row, which would match the longest winning streak of the Andrew McMinn era (Mar. 27-Apr. 28, 2012).

The opening faceoff is scheduled for a special 7:00 p.m. EDT start time at Joe Walton Stadium, and admission is free.

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