Men's Lacrosse | 5/22/2018 11:21:00 PM

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The aftermath of a historic season for the No. 18 Robert Morris men's lacrosse team will see two of its coaches and one of its captains heading north to go South during NCAA Championship weekend.

Head coach Andrew McMinn is returning to his alma mater to lead Division I-II Team South in the 77th annual USILA/Nike North-South Senior All-Star Games Friday. Joining him will be assistant coach Tim Cox and outgoing senior midfielder Sean Doyle, one of four RMU captains for its 2018 campaign.

The opening faceoff for the D-I/-II contest is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT at Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium on the campus of Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. Admission is free to this game, which traditionally affords a collegiate swan song to 140 of the finest senior men's lacrosse players in the country.

Visit the USILA website for full rosters.

Doyle will be the first player representative for the Colonials in the USILA North-South games since Luke Laszkiewicz and Eric Rankel competed in 2016 and the ninth Robert Morris player ever to participate in the event. This is the first time that three members of its men's program have been chosen for the Division I-II game since 2012, when a school-record three players (Casey Abbott, Kyle Buchanan and Kiel Matisz) represented RMU.

A Business Management major, Doyle registered a career-high 11 caused turnovers in his senior season. On Apr. 10 he picked up his first career game-winning assist on James Scane's goal with 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter of an 11-9 non-conference win at Canisius, where No. 18 Robert Morris would also win the first NCAA Tournament game in team history almost one full month later.

The 5'11", 180-pound Owings, Maryland native completed his RMU career with 23 CT's, 47 ground balls, ten goals and 15 points. He tied for eighth in program history with his 60 career games played, though few, perhaps, were more memorable than the NCAA First Round contest that took place just down the road from his alma mater, DeMatha Catholic High School. In front of family, friends and a national television audience, Doyle scored his last official goal as a collegian with 10:24 left in the game at No. 1 Maryland.

He caused two turnovers and collected one ground ball in a 12-2 rout of No. 19/18 Marquette Mar. 10 that tied a Colonials record for the fewest single-game goals allowed to a Division I opponent. The Robert Morris defense, including Doyle, set a new single-year program record with its 8.00 goals-against average, tied for fourth in the NCAA.

Before joining the Colonials' coaching staff, McMinn was a standout goaltender for Providence when it played in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). In three seasons as a starter, he helped lead his team to two regular-season championships, a MAAC Tournament Championship and a berth in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. He was a three-time All-MAAC selection and a 2004 MAAC All-Tournament Team honoree, and he held the top two single-season goals-against average marks in MAAC history at the time of his graduation.

During his career, he ranked among the top goaltenders in Division I in both save percentage and goals against average. He ranked fourth nationally in GAA in 2003, allowing just 6.91 tallies per game, and was seventh nationally in save percentage in 2005 with a .599 mark.

McMinn earned his Bachelor's degree in management with a minor in finance from Providence in 2005. He completed his Master's degree in instructional leadership with a concentration in sport management from Robert Morris in 2014.

He has finished his seventh season as head coach at Robert Morris and his 13th altogether, beginning his tenure as an associate head coach during the program's second season in 2006 under Kenneth "Bear" Davis. This one ended with McMinn guiding the No. 18 Colonials to their first Northeast Conference Tournament championship and automatic NCAA Tournament berth in team history, and their 13-5 overall record this year set a new RMU mark for single-season victories.

After earning his 50th career win as head coach at Hobart Apr. 7, McMinn logged his 100th game at the helm in that aforementioned triumph at Canisius three days later. Beginning with a 12-9 upset of No. 16/15 Penn State Feb. 24, only the third win over a ranked opponent in program history at the time, McMinn's 2018 Colonials received votes in at least one of the major national polls for 12 straight weeks, a new RMU record, climbing as high as No. 13/14 in the coaches' and media polls, respectively--another new school record.

Cox is coming off his second season as an assistant coach with the men's lacrosse team at Robert Morris, where he has spent much of his time working with the team's faceoff specialists. Last year, under his tutelage, Trey Arnold made the NEC All-Rookie Team, and this year, as a sophomore, Arnold surpassed 200 career faceoff wins Mar. 3 versus High Point.

This is Cox's first permanent collegiate coaching job since aiding the rise of his own alma mater, the University of Albany, into a national contender in men's lacrosse while serving that program as a Second Team All-American East Conference midfielder and, later, as a volunteer assistant coach.

The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) is an organization composed of member colleges and universities which sponsor intercollegiate lacrosse for men. The USILA is entrusted to enhance and develop intercollegiate lacrosse by providing leadership, management, and services to its membership so that student-athletes, coaches, and other constituent groups will realize the maximum benefit from the sport of lacrosse. The organization oversees the operation of the North/South All-Star game, All-America and Academic All-America recognition programs, Coaches Polls and Teams of the Week.

Joining McMinn and Cox on the Team South coaching staff will be current Bryant assistant Travis Harrington, an assistant coach with Robert Morris 2015-16.

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