FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Robert Morris men's lacrosse team continues to raise its standards offensively, but it was still unable to reverse its fortune in an 18-16 loss to Sacred Heart at Campus Field Saturday afternoon in the 2019 Northeast Conference opener for both 2018 playoff teams.

This time, the Colonials (1-6, 0-1) were able to right some of their recent wrongs in the second quarter, hanging with the Pioneers (5-3, 1-0) to the tune of a 6-6 deadlock at halftime. A sluggish start to the second half and untimely goals hemorrhaged late in the fourth quarter kept an end to a four-game funk just barely out of reach for Robert Morris, despite multiple rallies.

Sophomore attackman Corson Kealey is one star who continues to shine in these cloudy times. The meteoric rise of the 2018 All-NEC Rookie Team honoree now includes his taking over the team lead in goals, as Kealey recorded the first double hat trick since Matt Schmidt lit up Wagner for six on Apr. 8, 2017. He added an assist to share the team lead with seven points, a new career high.

It was the 15th time in program history a player scored six or more goals in a game. The Mar. 4 NEC Co-Player of the Week became only the tenth different Colonial with a six-goal effort to his credit.

This also marked the 16th time in the past 17 games that at least one Colonial collected an HT, a streak that began on St. Patrick's Day 2018, when these NEC combatants had last met. Junior attackman Ryan Smith helped Robert Morris eclipse its 2019 single-game high in goals by pumping in four of his own, matching his personal single-game best.

Kealey leapfrogged midfielder Tyson Gibson, who was shadowed effectively, to some degree, by Sacred Heart. Still, the senior co-captain and 2019 Major League Lacrosse draftee upheld his reputation as RMU's most consistent scorer, finishing with three assists and five points.

With 46 seconds to play in regulation, Gibson earned his 62nd career helper to pass fabled Colonial Trevor Moore '11 for third place on the team's all-time list.

The seven points registered by Smith at SHU Saturday also represented a career high. The Burlington, Ontario native gave RMU a 5-4 lead on his 12th goal of the season with 11:27 left in the first half, backhanding the ball past goalkeeper Brooks Dutton, in familiar fashion, as he ran away from the crease.

Smith connected with Schmidt right off the ensuing faceoff, and the Central Bucks East product broke his scoring drought with his 12th of the year, 13 seconds later, on a turnaround shot from the left wing.

Although veteran FOGO Trey Arnold did level off a bit (9-for-20) from vastly improved numbers to begin his junior year, his faceoff wins led to both second-quarter RMU goals, and Arnold still led the squad with seven ground balls. Now with an even 150 GB's all-time, Arnold passed Keith Lee '11 for sixth on the team's career chart.

Furthermore, sophomore transfer Michael Autry had perhaps his best game from the X in a Colonials uniform, ending his day a robust 12-for-18 (.667).

In addition, the 21 total faceoff wins by RMU Saturday tied for the eighth-most in a single game in school history. Not since an Apr. 21, 2012 matchup against former NEC rival Quinnipiac had the Colonials controlled that many scrums in one day.

Schmidt became just the tenth player in Robert Morris history to amass 80 career goals. The redshirt senior attackman and co-captain would add a second tally that started a much-needed mini-run by the Colonials in the fourth quarter with 12:25 remaining, his 11th goal and third extra-man score of the year.

RMU did get back on track a bit from a special teams standpoint after laying a goose egg against Marquette, finishing 2-for-3 on man-ups following Gibson's marker in the game's closing seconds. The Colonials, despite that weekday anomaly, came into the contest leading the conference with their man-up conversion rate, now up to 45.0%.

After Alex Weiss gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead with 12:12 left in the first quarter, Kealey got Robert Morris on the board exactly a minute later by putting away a ball right in front that Dutton overlooked. Then, with 9:50 to go, the Ottawa, Ontario native paid a physical price to tie the game from just inside the circle, somehow firing a tenuous pass from Smith past the keeper as he was knocked down on the right side for a skillful equalizer.

The Colonials got their trademark transition game going with just over four-and-a-half minutes remaining to make it 3-3. Kealey accepted another feed from Smith and won the resulting one-on-one battle with Dutton for his third hat trick in four games and 16th goal of the season, already equaling his rookie output.

Brandon Sulhoff, one of this year's freshman attackmen, gave RMU its first lead of the day just before time expired. He slid in front of a defender while stepping out from behind the net and beat Dutton with an overhand shot from a tough angle for his fourth of the campaign.

After the Colonials fell behind 10-6 in the third quarter, Brad McCulley stopped the bleeding with his fourth goal of the year with 3:45 to play. Kealey then raced out in front of the net, split the defense and made it a two-goal game just a little over two minutes later.

In the fourth quarter, RMU had to chase the game again, and it almost caught up thanks to the two highest-scoring members of its leadership group. Schmidt, from his sweet spot on the left elbow, then Smith got open on Dutton's doorstep and easily scored with nine minutes to play. Gibson's fiery upstairs shot from distance cut the deficit to 12-11 and forced a Sacred Heart timeout with 8:18 left in regulation.

Sulhoff, with 6:21 remaining, caught the Pios napping deep in their own end and helped a wide-open Kealey score an easy one from the close right wing to make it a one-goal affair again. However, the Colonials just couldn't get a stop defensively when needed, putting a damper on his double hatty with 20 seconds to spare.

Senior goalkeeper Alex Heger, matched up against fellow Preseason Inside Lacrosse All-American and MLL draftee Max Tuttle, finished with 15 saves. Heger ended up just two shy of the initial career high he set during the team's previous visit to SHU Mar. 18, 2017.

Robert Morris returns home to continue NEC play versus Mount St. Mary's next Saturday afternoon, part of a doubleheader with the Robert Morris women's lacrosse team, which takes on Radford, that day.

The women's team faces off at noon, and the opening faceoff between the men's team and the Mountaineers is set for 3:00 p.m. EDT. Admission to Joe Walton Stadium for both games is free, as are the corresponding livestreams on NEC Front Row.

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