MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, now with its first Northeast Conference opponent on the radar, is looking for remedies to a rough first month of regular-season play.

Senior midfielder Tyson Gibson, fully embracing his role as co-captain, is leading that search party with aplomb.

"We've just got to believe, and trust one another," he said. "We know how good we can be when we do play a full 60 minutes. We're in a little bit of a slump here, but I've got full faith in every one of these guys that we're going to work hard going back to practice and get back on the right track.

"We've got to focus, as a team, to overcome whatever obstacle we've got."

Gibson will be one of the latest Colonials to get his shot at pro ball after exhausting his NCAA eligibility this spring. On Mar. 9 he was selected by the Atlanta Blaze in the fifth round, with the 41st overall pick, of the Major League Lacrosse Draft, making him the sixth RMU student-athlete ever drafted into the outdoor circuit.

After showcasing his flair for drama in last season's NEC Tournament, the 6'1", 188-pound Maple, Ontario native continues to look like a next-level player despite RMU's struggles. On Tuesday afternoon, he pumped in a career-high four goals and led Robert Morris with a career-high eight points, keying a fast, and important, start 72 hours after an undesirable team effort Saturday night versus Canisius.

Unfortunately, an 8-1 Marquette run that spanned the second quarter, a familiar juncture for the Colonials' undoing in non-conference play this year, left the Colonials chasing the game the rest of the day in a 17-15 win by the Golden Eagles (3-3) at Joe Walton Stadium.

"We definitely played better than we did on Saturday. We've just got to learn and know how to bring it out for the full 60 minutes," said Gibson, who leads RMU and ranks among the conference's top five with his 24 points in six outings. "That's what cost us today, so we're going to keep working on that."

"Our second quarter, for whatever reason, has really just been the one that we've gotten behind on. It's one of those things where it's kind of hard to come up with an answer for why that's happening," head coach Andrew McMinn said. "Halftime, you're coming out of the locker room and have adjustments, and that's always something. First quarter, it depends, sometimes, whether or not you're starting fresh.

"The second quarter has been the 'lost quarter' on us, and we haven't performed the way we need to in that 15 minutes. So we've got to address that second 15 moving forward."

Robert Morris never led last Saturday. In stark contrast, the Colonials took a commanding lead on their Big East counterparts and appeared eager to run with it and hide.

Gibson backed off a defender and tossed across the circle for Ryan Smith, who scored easily on an overhand shot from the close left wing 53 seconds into the game. The junior attackman ended up with four points, including his third hat trick of 2019. 

It took just 11 seconds for Jake Boudreau to double the lead, finishing a backdoor play on the right side from Matt Schmidt. Boudreau's fellow countryman and sophomore, Corson Kealey, spun off his man after cradling an Eddie Smith pass and made it 3-0 right in front, just 23 seconds later, prompting Marquette head coach Joe Amplo to burn a timeout.

Last Saturday marked the first time since the teams' 2018 matchup in Milwaukee that none of the Colonials recorded a hat trick. On Tuesday, they got three, as Kealey pulled his offensive weight with a four-goal outburst.

"That was a rare instance, against Canisius, where we got outworked. We really just wanted to get back to playing our style, and making sure we had our foot on the gas to play hard," McMinn said. "I do think the guys responded to that."

Gibson gave Robert Morris a 4-1 lead with still 11:56 left in the first quarter, beating goalkeeper Chris Rolfing in stride from the right wing. Boudreau set up the St. Michael's College School product for a 5-2 advantage with 8:48 remaining, as Gibson buried a hard, overhand shot from medium distance.

The 2019 Senior CLASS Award nominee completed his first-quarter hatty with just over four minutes to spare. His highlight-reel score, on which he dashed in front from behind the net and flung a backhander past Rolfing on the far side, made it a 6-3 contest.

Once the Golden Eagles broke the dam, prior to which Amplo replaced Rolfing in goal with John Hulsman, Gibson did what he could to provide damage control. He switched sides and ripped a shot from beyond the circle, thanks to another of Eddie Smith's three assists, for an 8-6 RMU edge with 9:42 to go in the half.

"I've just got to give credit to my teammates. They're the ones that make me look better than I probably do look. Our game is transition, which helps me out a little bit, and they do well to find me when we're in transition," said Gibson.

Modesty aside, his teammates did help RMU tie the game on an early third-quarter rally. Kealey, from behind X, took matters into his own hands with a turnaround shot that found the back of the cage as he ran against the grain in the period's first minute of play.

The Mar. 4 NEC Co-Player of the Week finished his own HT from roughly the same spot on a low line drive 1:05 later, assisted again by Gibson. With 8:12 to go in the third, Kealey reversed roles, setting up Boudreau with a pretty bounce pass that connected as the latter drove the net and finished the play.

After Marquette recaptured the lead at 12-11, Gibson completed a fadeaway pass to Ryan Smith out in front, who converted the one-timer with seconds remaining on the shot clock and 2:47 left in the quarter.

Alas, another three-goal spurt in the fourth quarter, bookended by Gibson's career-high fourth assist and Kealey's 13th goal of the campaign, putting him one behind the preseason All-NEC selection for the team lead with 1:13 to play, was not enough to reverse course.

Gibson goes into the books with only the 15th game of eight or more points in RMU history (last: Jimmy Perkins, at Wagner, Apr. 21, 2018). He is just the tenth different Colonial to accomplish the single-game feat.

Defensively, Jack Toomb continues to help the transition game to which Gibson alluded. Toomb was credited with four ground balls and three of his team's eight caused turnovers. The senior defenseman is now just five CT's away from entering the program's top five in both career categories.

Junior FOGO Trey Arnold led the Colonials with seven ground balls, which resulted from his 15-for-27 (.556) effort on faceoffs. Arnold had entered Tuesday third in the NEC with his average of 6.60 GB's per game.

The opening faceoff against Sacred Heart, which can be seen live and for free on NEC Front Row, is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. EDT Saturday at the Pitt Center in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Robert Morris, in the meantime, aims to find the answers its seeks during an already truncated week of preparation for the Pioneers, which resumes on the practice field Thursday.

"The main thing is just not to focus on the record (1-5) right now, the same way we don't focus on the score in the end," McMinn said. "The answer is always going to be to get ourselves better, and that's what we're going to focus on this week.

"Regardless of the move into conference play, we've just got to make sure we clean up some of the stuff that we can do a better job of, and focus on what's in our control."

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