PHILADELPHIA -- "Together," "hard-working," "resilient," "strong" and "proud" are all words that have been used to describe the 2018
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, and other winning teams of the past. This one, on Saturday, embodying all those adjectives, earned one that is unique to the 13-year history of the program: champions.
The Colonials (12-4), under the perpetuating Philadelphia sun, melted away a forlorn first half with a second-half surge, then junior midfielder
Tyson Gibson scored with ten seconds to spare in overtime for a 9-8 triumph over No. 20 St. Joseph's (11-4) at Sweeney Field and their first-ever NEC Tournament championship.
"I'm just so proud for these guys. They've put in the work all season, and our upperclassmen have been putting in that work for years. We just talked about how strong of a culture we've developed, and these guys just responded so well with that stuff," head coach
Andrew McMinn said. "We couldn't be more happy for everybody involved at the university, all the way down to the guys who are doing the work on the field."
Â
Down 6-3 after the first 30 minutes, RMU exploded for five unanswered goals over the next fifteen. After playing damage control through a penalty-filled fourth quarter, it played heartbreaker in the extra period with the regular-season champion Hawks also seeking their first-ever postseason crown on home turf.
St. Joseph's, with time ticking away in OT, backed up a shot wide of goal, but First Team All-NEC keeper
Alex Heger, who made six of his eight saves in that second half, read the inbounds pass perfectly to cause what would prove to be the definitive turnover of the season for Robert Morris.
"We, actually, only practiced that this week, going into this game," said Heger, named tournament MVP after posting a .639 save percentage, scooping six ground balls and tying for tops on the RMU career chart with his 24th all-time victory. "One of our calls was that we were going to double, and I was going to come out of the net. They just decided to throw a bad ball that I intercepted, and we got it going the other way."
Their transition game, so often a difference-maker, came through one more time. Gibson quickly surveyed the play, dodged one defender, sidestepped another and, from just beyond the circle, threw a low shot past Heger's all-conference counterpart, Mike Adler, to send the Colonials to their first NCAA Tournament in team history.
Â
They will learn their destination, as well as the identity of their opponent, during the 2018 NCAA Lacrosse Selection Show, which begins Sunday at 9:00 p.m. EDT on ESPNU.
"I came off the bench, and I knew time was running down," Gibson recalled, "so I just called for the ball, and I knew there was nothing to lose at that point, with just a few seconds left, so I just went to the cage. I'll be honest--I don't use my off hand much, but I put it to my left, put it back to my right and closed my eyes.
"Next thing I know, we're NEC champs."
The two-time First Team All-NEC selection and Maple, Ontario native, meanwhile, has extended his team-best point streak to 20 games, dating back to Apr. 18, 2017.
Such plays were hard to come by for both teams, as they were in the initial battle of Pennsylvania that saw the Hawks spoil Senior Day at Joe Walton Stadium one week earlier. The RMU defense, which surrendered the lead with 15 seconds left in regulation on Kyle Cain's fourth goal, otherwise kept its characteristic poise and kept the contest within reach for its deep offense.
Still,
Matt Schmidt, the team's leading goal-scorer for the past two regular seasons, was able to break the ice for the visitors.
Carter Yepsen made an outstanding, last-ditch effort to prevent a turnover behind the SJU net and flicked a miraculous pass to Schmidt, whose fadeaway snipe from the left wing beat Adler with 10:37 left in the first quarter.
The redshirt junior attackman led the Colonials with five points, including his sixth hat trick of the year, and now has a goal in 15 straight games. Sophomore attackmanÂ
Ryan Smith, who joined him on the Second Team All-NEC squad, provided two critical goals of his own that stopped the bleeding after a couple of runs by St. Joseph's.
Smith came off the bench, streaked down the left side undaunted and, assisted by Schmidt, made good on a wide-open look from close range to make it a 3-2 game with 11:53 to go in the second quarter. A minute-and-a-half later, Gibson, similarly, found an avenue off a substitution and briefly tied the game with a jump shot from the top of the circle, but that would be all Robert Morris could muster until Smith got his 16th of the season from distance with 10:41 to play in the third.
Riding momentum, fellow sophomore
Trey Arnold got RMU back within one just eight seconds later. Arnold, who went 11-for-20 (.550) from the X, won the ensuing faceoff and bull-rushed the net for his fourth of the campaign. Then the Colonials' special teams redeemed themselves after a tough start.
With Tyler Makar in the box for an unreleasable one-minute cross-checking penalty, Schmidt tied the game from his familiar spot on the left elbow with just under six minutes remaining, set up by Gibson. His career-high 33rd goal of the season was also his ninth man-up tally of the year, setting a new Robert Morris single-season record.
Sophomore midfielder
Brad McCulley continued his fine weekend moments later when he took a centering pass from Schmidt and made good on a long-range laser just before the penalty to Makar expired for his third goal of the tournament, giving RMU only its second lead of the day. The Colonials enjoyed their biggest one with 2:12 remaining in the third, as redshirt junior attackman
Jimmy Perkins made a short toss to Schmidt, who finished the HT from his proverbial office.
"It's incredible, this team, this family. Coach [McMinn] kept bringing it up from day one, back at the Joe, in the fall, practicing at 6:00 a.m., until now. It's so hard to put into words everything that's gone into the whole year, and how good of a team and family this is, from top to bottom," said Perkins, picked for the All-NEC Tournament Team after a five-point playoff (three goals, two assists), including the semifinal-winning goal against Bryant Thursday. "[Strength] Coach [Jeremy] Hoy does a great job getting us prepared physically. With both teams playing two games in three days, that's something we thought we could take advantage of, using a lot more guys than them. We knew we'd be more fresh than them, but it was definitely a grind."
At the other end, they would shut out the Hawks for 30:55 to help force OT and set the stage for Gibson's magnum opus in a game likely to be discussed for years to come. Senior defensemen
Zachary Bryant and
Zac Christianson delivered more steadfast leadership to that group, both earning All-NEC Tournament nods after combining for eight ground balls and three caused turnovers in two games.
Robert Morris, to a man, took extremely good care of the ball against the Hawks all afternoon, turning it over only nine times.
"Just keeping our composure," said Bryant. "We went down at halftime, and we talked about that first day at the Joe...and all that hard work. We're not going to put it to waste now, right?"
"I think we just stayed true to ourselves, and stayed true to our system," Christianson added. "We were confident, we believed in each other, we came out, worked hard and it worked out. We know, when we hit the field, that we'll outwork the other team."
McMinn, whose consistency of even-tempered approach has served this team so well, appreciates the fruits of that labor a little more than usual after its school record-setting 12th win of the year forever moved the meter for the program.
"Above everything else, they're so resilient. They're able to keep their poise in pressure situations. It's one thing to say it, but it's another thing to do it," he said of the 2018 Colonials. "We said, don't look at the scoreboard, don't look at the situation. Find a way to execute--and they did it.
"We get the easy part of telling them, but they get the hard part of actually making sure they do it--and they did it."
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
