GENEVA, N.Y. -- A streak of eight straight multiple-goal games came to an end for Matt Schmidt Saturday afternoon, but hopefully, for the No. 19 Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, his lone score provides an iconic beginning to a far more important type of streak.

With 2:53 remaining in the four-minute, sudden-victory overtime period and light snow falling upon Boswell Field, the redshirt junior attackman notched his team-leading 23rd tally of the season to lift the Colonials (7-3, 3-1) past Hobart, 10-9, in a pivotal Northeast Conference clash.

No. 19 Robert Morris visits Canisius for a non-conference game Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. EDT in good stead as it interrupts its NEC slate. After wins over the Statesmen under head coach Andrew McMinn in 2012 and '13, the Colonials have defeated them for the first time since they joined the conference as an associate member for men's lacrosse in 2014, and, in doing so, have considerably bolstered their chances at a third straight NEC Tournament appearance, which would tie a program record.

"[Our coaches] told us at halftime to play our game and do what we do week to week in terms of our approach to every play, like fighting hard for ground balls. Jimmy [Perkins] came up huge with a ground ball behind the net that let us maintain possession," Schmidt said. "We just got that little skip look that we commonly do."

Although RMU struggled on faceoffs against Matthew Pedicine, one of the nation's top specialists, it got one when it mattered most by forcing a frantic scramble off the opening draw of overtime that ended with the ball out of bounds and in the visitors' possession deep in Hobart territory.

Their initial shot from close range after the inbound went just wide of both the net and goalkeeper Sam Lucchesi, but Perkins, indeed, backed it up well. The Colonials methodically worked the ball up top to senior midfielder Carter Yepsen, who set up Schmidt. The Doylestown, Pennsylvania product, from his sweet spot on the close left wing, went upstairs with a wicked shot that blew past the raised stick of Lucchesi and gave Bobby Mo a happy bus ride to Buffalo.

"I honestly just shot the ball as hard as I could, and it paid off," Schmidt laughed.

Between two teams with a recent history of close matchups, it was a fittingly dramatic conclusion to another tense contest that started out looking like a laugher. RMU stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, only to see the Statesmen (4-7, 1-2) rally over the next two for an 8-7 advantage.

"Everyone was just trying to stay positive," Schmidt said. "We read an article, as a team, this week that talked about no game being any more important than the other, and that translates to plays, too. We didn't let it affect us in any way, we just went out and played hard, the way we know that we can."

Senior attackman Adrian Torok-Orban, who entered Saturday with eight career points (five goals, three assists) against Hobart, the most of all current Colonials, also had a big day offensively with his third hat trick in a row and came up huge down the stretch. He tied the game from the top of the circle with just over 11 minutes to go in regulation, thanks to a textbook pass from Tyson Gibson right down the middle of the offensive zone.

Torok-Orban spun off a defender and put Robert Morris back on top, 9-8, from the bottom of the right wing with his 15th goal of the season exactly a minute later.

"I love playing with him," Schmidt said. "He's definitely a force out there. It's definitely reassuring, knowing that you have somebody out there with his kind of talent, his kind of heart and hustle to be backing you up as a team, and also as a fellow attackman. I can count on him for a lot of things."

Gibson, less than a year removed from erupting for seven points against the Statesmen, had another fine day against Hobart, finishing with two assists and a pair of early goals. After RMU killed an early penalty, he dragged his man toward the Hobart goal and beat Lucchesi from the left edge of the crease 1:57 into the game.

Following Ryan Smith's ninth goal of the year, Gibson, with 7:46 left in the opening frame and the Colonials up a man, found a lane and cashed in for the 12th time as a junior to give them a 3-0 cushion.

Smith became the sixth Colonial to hit double figures in goals in 2018 with a backhander from the right side after a Hobart timeout to give RMU its biggest lead of the game.

"We stick to our fundamental, core value, and that's our effort, in every facet of the game," Schmidt said. "Ground balls, shooting, rides, clears...everything we do, we try to do as hard as we can. Going up on a team like that didn't surprise me because of the effort we put in."

That effort was equally evident on defense, which has been a recurring theme of the Colonials' campaign, punctuated by a crucial stop at the end of the fourth quarter with Hobart holding for the last shot. Zac Christianson and Daniel Smith each scooped up four ground balls, and Christianson registered a career-high five turnovers, two shy of matching the team's single-game individual record.

Zachary Bryant moved up to third on the Robert Morris career chart with 64 caused turnovers, while fellow senior D-man Christianson boosted his career total to 56 after forcing three miscues and adding three GB's.

Junior long stick midfielder Jack Toomb, whose fourth faceoff win led to Schmidt's game-winner, picked up two ground balls, was also credited with a caused turnover and scored RMU's fourth goal--his first since Apr. 11, 2017.

Furthermore, the defense limited Chris Aslanian to two after getting gouged for five by the star attackman in their last meeting.

RMU remains only one game off the NEC lead with two conference games remaining, at Wagner Apr. 21 and versus St. Joseph's Apr. 28.

"Obviously, anything can happen from here on out. There were a lot of close games today. But we're just looking at every day the same, conference or non-conference, trying to be the best that we can be," Schmidt said. "Every game we play, we're going to play our hardest, and if we do that, we're confident it's going to end in our favor."

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