Moon Township, Pa. - Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team re-wrote the record books en route to a 13-12 victory over Louisville, the Colonials' first win over the Cardinals and first ever for the program over an ACC opponent.

Sophomore goalkeeper Katelyn Miller shattered the single-game saves record making 18 saves, including one in the final seconds to seal the victory. The previous record of 16 saves was held by Ashley Webb (vs. Davidson, March 8, 2007) and Erica Webb (at Ohio State, March 16, 2008).

Senior Dana Davis posted her best outing of the season with four goals in four shots on goal, adding an assist for a five point performance. Davis recorded three draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers as well. The senior midfielder is just four shy of setting a new RMU career record for ground balls, with the current record held by Colleen O'Donnell '12 (170).



The Colonials and Cardinals traded goals in the first half and into the second, before RMU took control with a stretch of four consecutive goals midway through the second half.

Robert Morris never trailed in the game, with Davis scoring her first of the game just 1:31 in. Junior Kerri Sayrafe scored on a free position shot to put the Colonials up 2-1. With the game tied at two, sophomore Melanie Gandy got on the board with her eighth of the season off a feed from Niki Grillon. Sophomore Clio Kerr made it 4-2 with a free position shot off the crossbar and in, her ninth goal of the season.

Louisville cut it to 4-3 before Davis scored her tenth of the season and second of the game to put RMU ahead 5-3. The Cardinals came back, scoring two in a row to tie the game at five. Freshman Kelley Flynn tallied her sixth goal of the season off a give and go play with Grillon, her second assist of the game, putting RMU ahead 6-5. The Cardinal tied the game up once more with 2:39 to play in the first half. Junior Shannon Lynch responded roughly 30 seconds later off the feed from Davis to make it a 7-6 RMU lead at half.

The Colonials opened the second half scoring with Lynch's second of the game, assisted by Gandy. The teams traded goals again, as Louisville closed the gap to 8-7 before Sophia Eureka put her 11th goal of the season in the back of the net on a free position shot, giving RMU a 9-7 lead. The Cardinals scored again, but RMU came back with Davis' hat trick goal, again assisted by Gandy, her team-high ninth helper of the year.

Davis' goal began a string of four straight goals by the Colonials, pushing RMU's lead to 13-8. Sayrafe followed Davis with another free position goal before Davis scored her fourth on a feed by Lynch, and Meghan Crouse fired home her first of the game from Eureka.

Robert Morris led by four goals with 9:45 to play, when Louisvile began to chip away. Tessa Chad and Caroline Blalock combined for nine Cardinals goals, including three in the closing nine minutes, combining with Emily Howell to put four on the board and cut RMU's lead to just one with 4:42 to play.

A frantic couple of possessions led to big saves by both goaltenders, as the Cards worked to tie the game and the Colonials tried to put the game away.

Neither team would score again.

Miller shut the door for the Colonials, making one final stop in the closing seconds, holding the ball after the save and watching the clock run to zero, as RMU held on for its first win over an ACC team, a bit of revenge from a 9-4 defeat to 18th ranked Louisville in Kentucky a season ago.

"She's a boss, man," said Davis, grinning about her goalkeeper Miller's record-setting performance. "She's so cool, she's so good, just calm and composed. Her composure on the field really helps the whole team."

"Our defense, as a unit, we played really well together," said Miller. "When they play well, I play well. When I play well, they play well. It all correlates."

The Colonials were once again a force on ground balls, finishing with 30 ground balls to the Cardinals' 12. Kerr led the way with 5 ground balls and won 4 draw controls as well. Freshman Madison Griffin picked up four ground balls and continues to pace Robert Morris with 28 ground balls. Griffin ranked fourth in the NEC and in the top 40 in the NCAA in ground balls entering Saturday's game. Crouse and Flynn had three ground balls each, while Eureka, Gandy, Davis and defender Madison Burke had two apiece. 15 different Colonials recorded at least one ground ball. Burke and Davis had a pair of caused turnovers each, pacing eight different Colonials with at least one caused turnover.

"Huge win today. We really needed this win," said Davis. "The team went out there with pretty much the attitude that we have nothing to lose. We're a good team, we know what we're capable of, and we left it all on the field."

"We gave it all we had for 60 minutes and we came out with the win," Miller said.

Robert Morris (4-5) will keep up the top competition in its final non-conference game of the season, Wednesday, March 28 at 4:00 p.m. at Ohio State in Columbus.


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